AW CHEOK Huat, a major shareholder of hospitality player ICP, has launched a voluntary offer to take the company private at S$0.009 per share in cash, the company disclosed in a Saturday (Apr 19) bourse filing.
This comes two years after Aw’s mandatory offer of S$0.007 apiece for Catalist-listed ICP – which was triggered after he acquired a 23.2 per cent stake in a S$5.4 million married deal.
The S$0.009 offer price represents a premium of 16.9 per cent over the volume weighted average price (VWAP) of S$0.0077 for the one-month period up to Apr 1, and a 20 per cent premium over the VWAP of the three months up to that date.
The counter last traded at S$0.007, before a trading halt was called on Apr 15.
ICP will convene an extraordinary general meeting to seek shareholders’ approval; the delisting will have to be approved by at least 75 per cent of voting shares, excluding Aw and parties acting in concert.
Aw, who owns 57.16 per cent of ICP, cited low trading liquidity as a reason for the offer. The stock’s average daily trading volume was 456,219 shares over the past 12 months, representing 0.01 per cent of total issued shares.
He also believes that the offer provides shareholders an opportunity to realise their investment amid a “challenging macro and operating environment” caused by “intensifying inflationary pressures”.
Delisting will save on compliance costs and provide “more flexibility and control to manage the business of the company (and) optimise the use of its management and capital resources”, the filing added.
Aw has no plan in the “foreseeable future” to re-list ICP on any exchange, nor to introduce any major changes to the business.
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