When a majority shareholder uses their control of a Singapore company to benefit themselves at the expense of minority shareholders, the minority is not without recourse. Section 216 of the Companies Act (Cap. 50) provides one of Singapore company law's most powerful weapons for aggrieved shareholders: the oppression remedy. It allows the Singapore High Court [...]
Dividends are the primary mechanism by which a Singapore private limited company distributes profits to its shareholders. Whether you are a founder drawing down years of retained earnings, a director managing cash flow for multiple shareholders, or an investor in a profitable SME, understanding the rules around dividend declarations is essential to avoid legal missteps [...]
A floating charge is one of the most commercially important but legally nuanced forms of security under Singapore company law. Unlike a fixed charge — which attaches immediately and permanently to identified assets — a floating charge hovers over a class of the company's assets as they change from time to time, allowing the company [...]
Every Singapore private limited company must have at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore. For foreign entrepreneurs, international businesses, and offshore holding companies that have no physical presence here, this creates a practical challenge: who fills that role? The answer is often a nominee director — a person appointed to serve as [...]
Treasury shares are a lesser-known but practically significant feature of Singapore company law. When a company buys back its own shares and holds them — rather than cancelling them — those shares become treasury shares. They sit on the company's books in a kind of corporate limbo: neither outstanding nor cancelled, carrying no voting rights, [...]
When a company in Singapore defaults on a secured debt obligation, the creditor holding a fixed or floating charge over the company's assets may appoint a receiver to take control of those assets and recover the amount owed. The receiver acts in the interests of the appointing creditor, not the company, and their authority extends [...]
Treasury shares are one of the more commonly misunderstood concepts in Singapore company law. Many directors have heard the term but are unsure whether their company can hold them, what the rules are, and how they interact with the company's capital structure. This article explains what treasury shares are under Singapore law, when a company [...]
Most Singapore company directors think about corporate compliance in one of two ways: as a cost to be minimised, or as a risk to be avoided. Both framings miss the bigger picture. The companies that consistently perform better in due diligence, close funding rounds faster, and attract better terms from banks and acquirers share a [...]
The Corporate and Accounting Laws (Amendment) Act 2025 is now fully in force, with its key provisions having commenced in April and May 2026. For Singapore company directors, these changes are not administrative housekeeping — they represent a meaningful tightening of the obligations and penalties that apply to you personally. This article explains what changed, [...]
Every Singapore private limited company must hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) â or pass resolutions in lieu of one â within specific statutory deadlines. Missing an AGM deadline is a common compliance breach that can result in penalties from ACRA and, more seriously, signal to investors, banks, and regulatory bodies that a company's corporate [...]