SINGAPORE - Shares of property developer Keppel Land and its parent company Keppel Corp both climbed on Monday (Jan 26) morning when trading resumed after a three-day halt.

KepLand jumped 24.4 per cent or 89 cents to $4.54 by 10am, while KepCorp inched up 1.2 per cent or 10 cents to $8.20.

The sharp gain in KepLand came after KepCorp said on Friday last week that it wanted to take KepLand private, and offered at least $4.38 per share.

That payout goes up to $4.60 per share if KepCorp succceeds in buying over all of KepLand, of which it already owns about 54.6 per cent.

KepCorp and KepLand had both halted trading on Wednesday last week.

Mr Loh Chin Hua, chief executive of KepCorp, told an analyst and media briefing on Friday afternoon last week that taking its listed property arm private would help KepCorp become one of the top conglomerates in the world.

KepCorp is also the parent company of Keppel Telecommunications and Transport, listed on the Singapore Exchange mainboard.