Singapore-based Mandolin Fund ramps up its stake in Sino-Forest to 18% with purchase of 2.7 million shares

Audrey Dixon

LOS ANGELES , August 8, 2011 (Forestweb) – The Mandolin Fund, based in Singapore and run by New Zealand-born billionaire Richard Chandler, has acquired more shares in beleaguered Sino-Forest Corp., taking its stake up to 18%, The Calgary Herald reported on Aug. 6.

The fund reportedly disclosed on Friday that it had bought another 2.7 million shares in the Toronto-listed Chinese forestry company on Aug. 4.

Mandolin has been gradually boosting its stake in Sino-Forest since its shares slumped following allegations earlier this year of fraud by short-seller Carson Block and his firm Muddy Waters.

Sino-Forest’s shares fell more than 60% following the accusations and according to The Calgary Herald reached a low of C$1.29 in mid-June.

However, the shares were given a boost when Mandolin began to move on the shares. As The Edmonton Journal reported on July 28, Sino-Forest Corp. saw its share price climb more than 20% at one point after the Mandolin Fund revealed it had acquired more than 5.3 million Sino-Forest shares on July 26, taking its holding close to 15%.

The primary sources of this article are The Calgary Herald, Calgary, Alberta, Aug. 8, 2011, and Forestweb archives.

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