National Bank of Oman and the "Mysterious" Treasure Fleet International

Not To Scale

Larger Than Life

You may have seen articles that Treasure Fleet International of Singapore had offered to buy a stake (amount undisclosed) in National Bank of Oman.  Gulf News.  Reuters.

Here’s the report from the Times of Oman.  Emphasis courtesy of AA.

“Muscat: National Bank of Oman (NBO) on Thursday said that it had received a letter from Treasure Fleet International Pte Ltd proposing to acquire a stake in the bank.

“The proposal from Treasure Fleet International Pte. Ltd. will be reviewed and discussed by the board of directors. Further disclosure concerning this matter will be made if there are developments to report,” said a bank disclosure statement posted on MSM website.

NBO also said that no legally binding commitments have been made and this matter is still subject to review and approval by NBO’s board of directors, the shareholders of NBO and the local regulatory authorities. Treasure Fleet International is a Singapore-based firm, according to its website, which is under development.

That last bit caught AA’s eye.  Off on a buying spree, but doesn’t have a working website.

But the press doesn't seem to have a clue about TFI.  Or was unable to find a clue.  Or didn't bother to.

AA did a cursory search via the internet and learned:

1. As per the Government of Singapore’s “bizfile”, the company was formed and registered in Singapore 24 August 2016 with Ng Lee Ken (NLK) filing the paperwork.   The same source notes that on 29 August NLK also filed a change of shareholders. Check the EROM section.  Side note:  This is fairly common.   A local registered agent opens a company using its personnel as shareholders of record and then subsequently amends the shareholders’ list to reflect new shareholders (presumably the actual owners or their other nominees).
2. As per Singapore’s Business Times, TFI was formed with between S$500,00 to S$5,000,000 (roughly US$345,000 to US$3,448,000) in capital.
3. As per AA's research, TFI shares its Singapore office and telephone number 65 6286 3622 with the following other companies:  Andromedic/MEA; Elite Power; and VKMCS (Victory Knights Management Consulting Service).
4. The Oman Connection Updated: Elite Power has an office in Oman.    VKMCS is no stranger to Oman having relationships with Bank of Muscat, Al Ramooz Group of Companies, Voltamp Oman,  and the Royal Oman Navy and joint partnerships with TFI and Andromedic.  VKMCS also appears to be related to Seven Seas Victory Knights Company LLC Oman.  A common principal individual appears to be a Mr. Nicholas Koh. 

So what we’ve got here is a 4 month old company with no more than US$3.4 million in capital apparently making an offer to buy a stake in NBO significant enough for NBO to file a report with the Muscat Securities Market.

Curious. 

At first blush TFI seems to be rather small tonnage for a sea voyage of this sort. But with the network of affiliated companies, who knows?

There is additional information for sale at “bizfile”, though it seems one needs a SingPass to pay. SingPass is restricted to Singaporeans and those with residence.   Neither of which AA qualifies for. 

So an appeal to any of SAM’s Singaporean readers out there or other folks more clever than AA to buy the documents and post a comment with details of shareholders of record.  Perhaps the Oman connection goes deeper.

For that purpose, TFI’s UEN (corporate registration) is 201623102G. 

Its registered address is:

62 UBI ROAD 1

#09-03

OXLEY BIZHUB 2

SINGAPORE 408734 Good hunting!