Gordon and Celine Tang, the couple controlling developer SingHaiyi, is making an offer to privatise the developer, offering 11.7 cents per share for the 21.63% of the company they don't already own.
The offer price is a premium of 8.3% over the last traded price of 10.8 cents as of Nov 8, and values the company at around $498 million.
As at Sept 30, the company’s net asset value per share was 14.96 cents, versus 14.67 cents per share as at March 30.
Separately, shares of OKH Global, a separately listed industrial and logistics property company that is 44.3% held by the Tangs, jumped 38.1% to close 2.9 cents after news of the offer for SingHaiyi was out.
The Tangs and their concerted parties already control 78.37% of SingHaiyi and they hope to privatise the company and enjoy more flexibility in managing this business. As a private company, there’s also no compliance and listing costs to be incurred.
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According to UOB, which is advising the Tangs, the offer is an opportunity for shareholders to realise their investment at a premium without incurring brokerage fees.
The offer is also a chance for other shareholders to cash out from this stock which typically has low liquidity.
For 1HFY2021 ended Sept 30, the company reported earnings of $12.5 million, a turnaround from a loss of $4.6 million in the year earlier. Revenue in the same period surged from $50.6 million to $202.8 million.
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On Aug 19, the Tangs bought 233.2 million shares for $21 million in a married deal. The transaction works out to an average of 9 cents each.
On July 5, SingHaiyi shares spiked more than 40%, drawing a query from SGX.
Besides SingHaiyi and OKH Global, the couple controls another listed company: Chip Eng Seng Corp.
On Oct 11, Celine paid 42 cents each to buy 231,000 shares from the open market, raising her stake to more than 290.9 million, or 37.13%.
Photo of Celine Tang by Samuel Isaac Chua of The Edge Singapore
