Trading in shares of China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp. Ltd. (CAO) resumed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) Wednesday after being suspended for some 16 month.

CAO, once a major jet fuel supplier listed on SGX, lost US$550 million in oil derivatives trading in 2004 and applied to Singapore's High Court for judicial protection.

Its restructuring plan, which is valued at US$600 million, was formally completed on Tuesday.

Under the plan, British energy company BP and a subsidiary of Singapore's government-related investment company Temasek Holdings have joined CAO's parent, China Aviation Oil Holding Company (CAOHC), to revitalize CAO with CAOHC holding a majority of the new shares issued on the completion of the plan.

A cash distribution to creditors would also be made upon the completion of the restructuring plan, CAO said earlier this week, adding that the balance of some US$132.6 million will be restructured, deferred and repaid in five years.

Also on Wednesday, CAO's new board of directors under independent chairman Lim Jit Poh held its first meeting to announce the establishment of five committees including the Audit Committee, the Disclosure Committee and the Risk Management Committee.

Lim, who is also the non-executive chairman of Comfort Delgro, a local listed company focusing on passenger land transport, was appointed CAO's new chairman of the board earlier this year.

CAO's former chief executive officer (CEO) Chen Jiulin, a 45-year-old Chinese national, was sentenced to a jail term of four years and three months and a fine of 335,000 Singapore dollars (US$207,000) for cheating, false reporting and insider trading in a subordinate court in Singapore last week.

CAO's three other former high level executives had been fined between 150,000 Singapore dollars (US$93,000) and 400,000 Singapore dollars (US$247,000) earlier this month while its former chief financial officer Peter Lim was jailed two years and fined 150,000 Singapore dollars.

(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2006)