Which takeover offer should SPH shareholders accept?

• Singapore Press Holdings (SGX: T39) share price closed 0.5% higher on Tuesday (02 November 2021)
• Meanwhile, SPH REIT (SGX: SK6U) share price dipped 1% on the day
• SPH shareholders are concerned that the offers from Cuscaden Peak and Keppel Corporation undervalue the company
• UOB analysts have advised shareholders to accept Keppel’s offer, which they say works out to be higher
• Keen to trade SPH and SPH REIT shares? Open an account with us to long or short the stocks now.

SPH shareholders feel offers are below NAV

The Securities Investors Association of Singapore (SIAS) said on Tuesday that it was approached by some SPH shareholders on the current offers to acquire the company’s ordinary shares.

SPH shareholders had shared some concerns with SIAS, including how the offers are currently below the firm’s net asset value, and whether SPH should carry on with its business without the media business.

They shared that with the media business now hived off, SPH has become more of a property holding company.

The shareholders feel that the company should thus be valued accordingly.

‘SPH is a prized entity, they feel, and the Board should do its utmost to ensure that there are in fact no other potential bidders,’ SIAS stated in a press release.

‘Our views are firstly, that the Board will consider the Offers and decide on what is in the best interest of its stakeholders. The Board needs to evaluate the Offers and advise its shareholders on the merits. The shareholders should await the decision of the Board,’ the association added.

SPH bidding war ‘imminent’: UOB analysts

Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH) received an unsolicited proposal from Temasek-backed real estate consortium Cuscaden Peak Pte. Ltd. last Friday (29 October), to acquire all of the issued ordinary shares of SPH for S$2.10 a share.

The proposed acquisition will be by way of a scheme of arrangement pursuant to Section 210 of the Companies Act, Chapter 50 of Singapore.

Cuscaden then clarified on Monday that the minimum Chain Offer Price which it is obliged to offer under the SPH REIT Chain Offer, if and when made, will be S$0.964 fully in cash for each SPH REIT Unit.

This came after the Securities Industry Council confirmed that the minimum offer price for the SPH REIT Chain Offer shall be the simple average of the daily volume-weighted average traded prices of the SPH REIT Units on the SGX-ST on either the latest 20 trading days or whatever number of trading days there were within the 30 calendar days prior to the Possible Offer announcement date.

Earlier, SPH had received a cash-plus-share offer of S$2.099 per share from Keppel Corporation.

According to UOB analysts, a ‘bidding war is imminent, with SPH’s prized assets on the line’.

‘However, barring any new offer, we recommend shareholders to accept the highest offer which is currently Keppel’s offer at $2.15/share over Cuscaden’s,’ the analysts wrote.

Feeling bullish or bearish about SPH and SPH REIT shares?

Beginner’s guide to day trading.

Go long or short with CFDs on 16,000+ shares with our award-winning platform.* Perfect your technique with S$200,000 worth of virtual funds if you sign up for a free demo account today.

_{*Based on the Investment Trends 2018 Singapore CFD & FX Report based on a survey of over 4,500 traders and investors. Awarded the Best Online Trading Platform by Influential Brands in 2020. Awarded the best retail FX provider for Asia by FX Markets in 2020}