Company briefs: Neo Group; Delvaux; Alibaba

The offer for Catalist-listed Neo Group has turned unconditional, the food caterer said on Monday.

Neo Group received valid acceptances amounting to about 91.2 per cent of the total number of issued shares. Management shareholders tendered about 82.3 per cent of the shares. Other concert parties of the offeror tendered the remaining 1.4 per cent.

The remaining shares held publicly amount to about 8.8 per cent, which falls below the free float requirement of 10 per cent. The Singapore Exchange will thus suspend trading of the shares when the offer closes.

THE BUSINESS TIMES

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Delvaux

Hong Kong billionaire brothers Victor and William Fung are exploring selling their stake in Delvaux, a 192-year-old Belgian luxury leather bagmaker, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The Fungs are working with advisers and have reached out to prospective suitors, the people said. A sale could value the bagmaker at around US$500 million (S$664 million) to US$600 million.

The brothers acquired the stake together with Singapore investment company Temasek in a 2011 deal, giving the two parties majority control of the company, they said.

BLOOMBERG

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Alibaba

China's market regulator is investigating a joint venture between e-commerce giant Alibaba and Minmetals Development, Minmetals said on Monday, amid a broad antitrust clampdown on Internet firms.

Minmetals said in a statement that it received a notice from the State Administration for Market Regulation in recent days about an investigation into the joint venture formed in 2015, in which Alibaba transferred its 44 per cent stake to an unrelated firm in 2019.

Alibaba declined to comment.

REUTERS