The Companies Act has been amended with effect from November 18 1998.
The amendments include the following:
- to allow the purchase or acquisition by listed and unlisted
companies of their own ordinary shares, on or off the stock
market, but only out of distributable profits;
- to amend the definition of 'interest in the shares of a
company' to increase the threshold on which a person is deemed
to have an interest in a corporate body from 15% to 20% of its
voting power, and to restrict its application to not more than
one level;
- to extend the maximum life-span of employee share options
from five to 10 years;
- to remove the restrictions relating to substantial property
transactions between companies and their directors, directors
of their holding companies or persons connected with the
directors;
- to make clear that a company may purchase insurance for any
officer of the company against liability for negligence or
breach of duty to the company not occasioned by any wilful act
or default on his part; and
- to exempt a foreign company from being registered in
Singapore if it merely establishes a share transfer or share
registration office in Singapore to become a listed
corporation, or if it merely effects any transaction through
its related corporation licensed or approved under any written
law by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, under an
arrangement approved by the Authority.