Olam

Olam: The beleaguered agri-commodities firm yday broke its month-long silence as it sought to clear the fog of doubt surrounding it: its balance sheet is the strongest since its listing in 2005, it said, and again reiterated that the issues raised about the company had no merits. In a 274-page "offer information statement" relating to its rights issue - which includes a letter to shareholders to update them on recent devts - the firm said it had formed a sub-committee to do an internal review after its first comments had been published. The four man-strong subcommittee - comprising non-executive chairman R Jayachandran, lead independent director and chairman of the audit & compliance committee, as well as governance & nomination committee Michael Lim, and independent directors Robert Michael Tomlin and Mark Haynes - found that the questions raised about the firm "have no basis in fact and provide no reason for concern". Explaining its silence after an initially rousing defence against criticism by US short-selling research firm Muddy Waters, Olam said: "Despite attempts to draw us into a public battle of words, we have felt that it is in the best interests of the company and its shareholders not to respond to every opinion, claim or assertion made by those who may be doing so for their own vested interests." Olam is +3% at $1.695.