Pan-Electric Industries

Pan-Electric Industries was a Singapore-based company that specialised in marine salvage work, and had 71 subsidiary companies, including hotel and property interests, with a market capitalization of S$230 million.cite encyclopedia | author = National Heritage Board | authorlink = National Heritage Board | editor = Tommy T.B. Koh "et al." | title = Pan-El crisis | encyclopedia = | pages = 402 | publisher = Editions Didier Millet | location = Singapore | year = 2006 | isbn =981-4155-63-2] [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE0DF103AF934A35751C0A960948260 Pan-Electric Liquidation] , "The New York Times", February 7, 1986.] The company collapsed in 1985 due to unsettled forward contracts, forcing the stock exchanges of both Singapore and Malaysia to shut down for three days. [cite news | title = Trading halt causes crisis in Singapore | date = 3 December 1985 | publisher = The Globe and Mail | page = B15] At its demise, the company had a total debt of S$480 million, and all its shares held by 5,500 shareholders were found to be worthless overnight. As of 2000, it remains the largest corporate collapse in Singapore's history, and the only instance where the Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES) had to close. The Malaysian Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange was also forced to close for three days as a result. [Zakaria Haji Ahmad, [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-4687(198602)26%3A2%3C150%3AMI1TBO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1 "Malaysia in 1985: The Beginnings of Sagas"] , "Asian Survey", Volume 26, No. 2, (February 1986), pp. 150-157]

In the aftermath of the collapse, key people in the company such as Peter Tham, Tan Kok Liang, and Tan Koon Swan were prosecuted and given varying jail sentences. The collapse of the company shook public confidence in the SES, causing prices of stocks to plunge.Fact|date=December 2007 New securities laws were introduced in March 1986 to ensure that stockbroking firms can protect themselves against credit risks. [cite news | title = Pan-El - Biggest corporate collapse here to date. | date = 17 September 2000 | publisher = The Straits Times]

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