IN A move seen by market watchers as a show of commitment to the company's management, former chief executive of Inter-Roller Engineering, Mr Yap Lem, has leapt into the market to pick up more of the company's shares.

Mr Yap, who remains an executive director of the design and build engineering company, bought 160,000 shares at 77.9 cents each on the open market on Tuesday.

Following the purchase, Mr Yap's direct stake in Inter-Roller rose to 10.13 per cent from 9.92 per cent.

He also holds another 8.11 per cent or 6.2 million shares as deemed interest in the company.

Dealers said that Mr Yap's move was to signal to the market that he remains confident in the company's management and prospects following the recent appointment of Mr Lim Yee Minas the firm's new chief executive.

Mr Lim, who has been Inter-Roller's managing director since 2002, took over at the helm of the Sesdaq-listed company from Mr Yap last Saturday.

However, some market watchers believe that Mr Yap's purchase of the shares is designed to boost investor sentiment after confidence took a hit when United Overseas Bank pared its stake in the company.

The bank's total direct and deemed stake in Inter-Roller as at last Monday stood at 4.9 per cent, from 5.06 per cent previously.

Inter-Roller's shares slid 2.5 cents to close at 74.5 cents yesterday. - AZHAR KHALID

《The Straits Times》