Jack Ong Tong Hai, CEO of Cosmosteel Holdings, has beefed up his stake by snapping up shares of his company from the open market amidst a takeover offer.

The price paid by Ong is above the 20 cents per share offer tabled on May 15 by an entity called 3HA Capital.

On May 20, Ong paid a total of more than $1.2 million for 5.55 million shares, which works out to a range of between 21.7633 cents to 21.8721 cents. This brings his total stake to more than 43.4 million shares, or 16.62%, up from 14.5% previously.

As indicated in Cosmosteel's annual report, as at Dec 11 2024 Ong's brother, Ong Tong Yang holds another 7.63% of the shares.

Cosmosteel's single largest shareholder is Hanwa Co, a Tokyo-listed trader of steel and other materials which now owns 31.61% of Cosmosteel.

3HA Capital is made up of parties including Hanwa Singapore, a subsidiary of Hanwa Co. Other parties in the offeror include HHH Group, Bursa-listed AYS Ventures Bhd and Thor Capital.

The offer price of 20 cents is 48.1% over the last traded price of 13.5 cents on May 14. However, it is a discount to the company's NAV of 29.31 cents as at March 31.

The offeror says it plans to continue to develop and grow Cosmosteel's existing businesses and will undertake reviews from time to time to consider options.

Cosmosteel has been included in the SGX watch-list since 2018 and the exchange has given Cosmosteel up to June 4 to exit the watch-list.

If the offeror receives more than 90% of the shares, it might then exercise the right to compulsorily acquire the remaining shares and to then delist the company.

Meanwhile, 3HA Capital plans to maintain Cosmosteel's listing status.

Cosmosteel Holdings last traded at 23 cents.