http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/prem...-1677-20130104

Published January 04, 2013

Wheelock raises SC Global stake to 16.77%

Developer still seen undervalued; public float now at 19.259%

By Mindy Tan


WHEELOCK Properties increased its stake in SC Global Developments yesterday, paying $1.82 per share for 700,000 shares as it maintained its view that the property developer is undervalued.

The move, which raised Wheelock's stake by 0.17 per cent to 16.77 per cent, follows its purchase of 2.098 million shares at between $1.815 and $1.82 on Wednesday.

Both transactions were carried out by Pinevale Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wheelock Properties (Singapore).

Tan Bee Kim, senior executive director Wheelock Properties (Singapore) Limited, said: "SC Global shares at the current price represent an attractive discount to value."

This is a view maintained by the company, which said last month that, at $1.82, the share price represented a discount of some 40 to 50 per cent of RNAV (revalued net asset value), "and we would be unable to buy property assets directly at anything like these prices".

SC Global's stock closed at $1.84, up 2 cents, or 1.1 per cent, yesterday.

Shares in Wheelock, SC Global's second largest shareholder, eased 2 cents, or 0.99 per cent, to end trading at $2.

But Bryan Go, an analyst at Phillip Securities Research, cautioned: "Minority shareholders shouldn't follow in Wheelock's footsteps because if the company is taken private, Wheelock would still have some influence over the company, but minority shareholders wouldn't."

SC Global said the public float as at yesterday was 19.259 per cent (excluding treasury shares).

Simon Cheong, SC Global chief executive, said on Sunday that he will not raise his $1.80-per-share offer price to take the company private.

The offer, which lapses on Jan 16, values the firm at $745 million and is being made through Mr Cheong's private investment vehicle MYK Holdings.

PrimePartners Corporate Finance, SC Global's independent financial adviser, recommended that shareholders accept Mr Cheong's offer in a Dec 26 report, finding the bid "fair and reasonable".

Including persons acting in concert, Mr Cheong owns or has agreed to acquire an aggregate of 264.6 million shares, representing approximately 63.972 per cent of the shares in issue.

He first announced his intention to take his company private on Dec 5.