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31-12-12, 14:01
http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/money/story/no-plans-revise-sc-global-offer-price-ceo-20121231
No plans to revise SC Global offer price: CEO
Published on Dec 31, 2012
By Aaron Low
SC GLOBAL chief executive Simon Cheong will not raise his offer price in his bid to take the property developer private.
He said this in a statement released to the Singapore Exchange yesterday, quashing rumours that he was planning to revise his takeover bid after shares of the company shot up in recent weeks.
Mr Cheong, who is also chairman of the company, launched his privatisation bid on Dec 5 through his wholly owned investment holding company MYK Holdings.
At $1.80 a share, he is valuing the firm at $745 million.
But he is locked in a battle with another big shareholder of the company, Wheelock Properties, which believes his offer undervalues the company.
It said on Dec 13 that the stock's share price at the time represented "a discount of some 40 per cent to 50 per cent of RNAV (revalued net asset value)".
Wheelock bought 1,066,000 shares in SC Global at about $1.81 on Dec 13. The stock closed at $1.82 that day.
That sparked speculation that Mr Cheong would revise his offer up, which drove SC Global shares up to $1.90 as of last Friday.
But yesterday, he said he has no intention to revise his $1.80 a share offer.
This statement means he will not be allowed to "amend the terms of the offer, including the offer price, in any way".
Last week, PrimePartners, an independent financial adviser appointed by SC Global, recommended that shareholders accept Mr Cheong's offer, calling it "fair and reasonable".
It does not have an optimistic view of the current or future value of SC Global's portfolio.
It said the developer's revenue had declined almost 40 per cent year-on-year in the first nine months of this year, largely due to slower sales.
"The general consensus of market reports indicates that the high-end residential property market in Singapore is expected to remain cautious with sales remaining tepid and prices stagnating or declining in the foreseeable future," it said.
In a separate statement issued by SC Global yesterday, the company took issue with a report written by DMG analyst Goh Han Peng.
The report, published last Thursday, argued that Wheelock held the key to the privatisation exercise and that one solution was a merger between SC Global and Wheelock.
SC Global had pointed out that the writer was a shareholder of both SC Global and Wheelock just a day prior to the publication of the report.
"The board would like to state that there is currently no discussion with Wheelock Properties with respect to any merger and that the statements made in the article strictly represent the views of the writer and/or DMG but not that of the company," it said.
[email protected]
No plans to revise SC Global offer price: CEO
Published on Dec 31, 2012
By Aaron Low
SC GLOBAL chief executive Simon Cheong will not raise his offer price in his bid to take the property developer private.
He said this in a statement released to the Singapore Exchange yesterday, quashing rumours that he was planning to revise his takeover bid after shares of the company shot up in recent weeks.
Mr Cheong, who is also chairman of the company, launched his privatisation bid on Dec 5 through his wholly owned investment holding company MYK Holdings.
At $1.80 a share, he is valuing the firm at $745 million.
But he is locked in a battle with another big shareholder of the company, Wheelock Properties, which believes his offer undervalues the company.
It said on Dec 13 that the stock's share price at the time represented "a discount of some 40 per cent to 50 per cent of RNAV (revalued net asset value)".
Wheelock bought 1,066,000 shares in SC Global at about $1.81 on Dec 13. The stock closed at $1.82 that day.
That sparked speculation that Mr Cheong would revise his offer up, which drove SC Global shares up to $1.90 as of last Friday.
But yesterday, he said he has no intention to revise his $1.80 a share offer.
This statement means he will not be allowed to "amend the terms of the offer, including the offer price, in any way".
Last week, PrimePartners, an independent financial adviser appointed by SC Global, recommended that shareholders accept Mr Cheong's offer, calling it "fair and reasonable".
It does not have an optimistic view of the current or future value of SC Global's portfolio.
It said the developer's revenue had declined almost 40 per cent year-on-year in the first nine months of this year, largely due to slower sales.
"The general consensus of market reports indicates that the high-end residential property market in Singapore is expected to remain cautious with sales remaining tepid and prices stagnating or declining in the foreseeable future," it said.
In a separate statement issued by SC Global yesterday, the company took issue with a report written by DMG analyst Goh Han Peng.
The report, published last Thursday, argued that Wheelock held the key to the privatisation exercise and that one solution was a merger between SC Global and Wheelock.
SC Global had pointed out that the writer was a shareholder of both SC Global and Wheelock just a day prior to the publication of the report.
"The board would like to state that there is currently no discussion with Wheelock Properties with respect to any merger and that the statements made in the article strictly represent the views of the writer and/or DMG but not that of the company," it said.
[email protected]