SINGAPORE: Singapore’s Keppel Corporation Limited offered as much as S$3.6 billion ($2.7 billion) to buy out its property subsidiary Keppel Land Limited from minority shareholders.
Keppel Corporation holds a 54.6 per cent stake in Keppel Land. For the remaining stake, Keppel Corporation offered to pay as much as S$4.60 ($3.43) in cash per share, a premium of 26 per cent to the stock’s closing price.
Loh Chin Hua, Keppel Corporation CEO said the deal which would be funded through internal funds and loans would help the company further develop its real estate business.
In Singapore as majority owners take advantage of stock prices weakened by a cooling property market and cheap financing. The deal is the latest in a spate of privatizations, mainly in the real estate sector.
Keppel Land’s shares rose 4.3 per cent this week on high volumes. Both companies had called for a trading halt of their shares. Last year, CapitaLand Limited bought out the remaining shares of its subsidiary CapitaMalls Asia Limited.
Keppel Corporation, one of the world’s biggest builders of offshore drilling rigs, on Thursday reported a 6.1 per cent rise in its fourth quarter net profit.
