Update | Shares in Hong Kong fisheries giant Pacific Andes torpedoed by regulatory probe

A Singapore regulatory probe sent the Hong Kong-listed shares of seafood processing giant Pacific Andes diving more than 30 per cent Friday morning.

The firm, whose divisions include shipping fleets and fish processing plants, has been asked to hand over “certain information and documents for the period from 1 October 2011 to the present relating to the company and its subsidiaries,” a Pacific Andes exchange filing disclosed late Thursday night.

Shares sank on the news to 16.1 HK   cents in late morning trade,   a fall of 31.25 per cent from Thursday’s close.

“The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force are jointly investigating possible contraventions of the Securities and Futures Act (Cap. 289) and have obtained documents from Pacific Andes Resources Development Limited and China Fishery Group Limited. As investigations are ongoing, we are not able to provide further information,” a MAS spokesperson wrote in an email to the South China Morning Post.

The Pacific Andes exchange filing did not spell out exactly what documents MAS wanted, only that they related “to dealings with certain third parties, one of whom is the group’s trading party”.

The latter party was identified as China Fishery Group, an indirectly owned subsidiary of Pacific Andes. China Fishery also received a similar notice from MAS, the filing announced.