Silverlake Axis (SAL) has lost its free float at the close of the market on Oct 7, with only 9.47% of the company’s shares in public hands.
This comes after SAL’s offeror, E2I, bought 139,300 shares from the market on the same day at 36 cents apiece. The purchase brought the total stake of E2I and its concert parties to 90.53%.
Since the privatisation offer was announced on Aug 26, E2I has bought some 30.1 million shares representing a 1.2% stake in SAL. E2I or its concert parties have not acquired or agreed to acquire any further shares beyond the valid acceptances.
According to Rule 1105 of the listing manual, the trading of SAL’s shares will be suspended, since the free float requirement, which means at least 10% of SAL’s shares are held by at least 500 shareholders who are members of the public, is not met. SAL has three months to either raise the percentage of shares in public hands to at least 10% or have the company delisted.
In its offer document, E2I said that it does not intend to preserve SAL’s listed status nor does it intend to support any steps to maintain the company’s listed status.
Shares in SAL closed 1 cent higher or 2.78% up at 37 cents on Oct 7, surpassing E2I’s offer price of 36 cents per share.
