[SINGAPORE] Hotel and property group Amara Holdings announced on Thursday (Jul 17) that it will be officially delisted from the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange as at 9 am on Jul 21.
On Jun 10, Amara’s privatisation offer had succeeded, where valid acceptances amounted to close to 97.8 per cent of the total shares.
The number of shares owned, controlled or agreed to be acquired by special-purpose vehicle DRC Investments, together with valid acceptances of the offer, totalled to 562 million shares.
DRC, which is a consortium led by property developer Hwa Hong, will exercise its right to compulsorily acquire all remaining shares at the offer price of S$0.895 per share.
A wholly owned subsidiary of Wing Tai, Winteam Investment, also holds a 35 per cent stake in the consortium.
A 30 per cent stake in DRC Investments is also held by Albertsons Capital. The shareholders are Amara’s chairman and chief executive officer Albert Teo, and his daughter Dawn Teo, who is also Amara’s chief operating officer.
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The consortium has said it will make the group a wholly-owned subsidiary, and noted that it does not intend to preserve Amara’s listing status.
The offer price of S$0.895 was deemed “fair and reasonable” by the independent financial adviser appointed for the takeover bid on May 27, and values the property group at around S$514.6 million.
It is also a 33 per cent premium over the group’s net asset value per share as at end-December last year.
The hotel player had requested for a suspension of the trading of its shares, which took effect from 9 am on Jun 11. This came on the back of the group losing its free float on May 15, where the percentage of the total number of issued shares, excluding treasury shares, held by the public fell below 10 per cent.
Amara had previously said that the privatisation offered a “unique cash exit opportunity for shareholders to liquidate and realise their entire investment at a premium”, which is something not otherwise readily available in light of the low trading liquidity of the shares.
Other reasons included greater protectionist policies and shifting trade agreements, which could disrupt supply chains and raise costs for businesses.
This has a clear ripple-on effect for the hotel and property group, where consumer behaviour and retail disruptions would have an impact on its malls in Singapore and China, including 100 AM in the Central Business District, which was rebranded from the former Amara Shopping Centre.
The Business Times journalists Chong Xin Wei, Ry-Anne Lim, Janice Lim and Jessie Lim contributed to this report.
