Great Eastern shares close at $13.50 after year-long suspension, 1-for-1 bonus issue

SINGAPORE - Shares of Great Eastern (GE) resumed trading on Aug 21 on the Singapore Exchange following a more than a year-long suspension, after a bonus issue restored the insurer’s minimum free float requirement.

The stock opened at $13.50 at 9am, with a low of $12.80 and a high of $14.70 for the day before closing back at $13.50.

This compares with its July 2024 pre-suspension closing price of $25.80, which on an adjusted basis following the one-for-one bonus issue would be equivalent to $12.90.

GE shares had been suspended in July 2024 after the stock’s public float fell below the 10 per cent minimum following a failed takeover bid by majority shareholder OCBC Bank.

The insurer on Aug 19 said shareholders should expect its trading price to adjust correspondingly when trading resumes, given the bigger share base.

“Following the bonus issue, the company will have an enlarged share base due to the one-for-one bonus issue of new ordinary shares and Class C non-voting shares.

“For example, shareholders who previously held 1,000 shares will hold 2,000 shares as at Aug 21, 2025,” said GE.

Morningstar senior analyst Michael Makdad said it will not come as a surprise if GE’s price per ordinary share falls by half, given that ordinary shares held by shareholders other than OCBC doubled.

Furthermore, unlike when the shares were last traded, there is no expectation of another party offering to buy the shares at a premium any time soon, he said.

“Even if the share price falls by half, minority shareholders are not worse off than before, considering they now hold two shares for every one share they previously held,” Mr Makdad added.

Following shareholder approval of the bonus issue, GE issued 29.7 million bonus ordinary shares – which started trading on Aug 21 – and 443.6 million Class C non-voting shares.

The company’s total share capital now stands at 503 million ordinary shares and 443.6 million Class C non-voting shares, up from 473.3 million ordinary shares.

OCBC helped restore the free float by receiving Class C shares, a move that diluted its own holding of GE voting shares from 93.72 per cent to 88.19 per cent.

The bonus issue came as a proposed delisting resolution failed to pass at GE’s extraordinary general meeting on July 8. OCBC’s conditional exit offer of $30.15 per share also lapsed.

Minority shareholders – who were the only ones allowed to vote – were then asked to vote for the resumption of trading resolution. This meant adopting a new Constitution to create Class C non-voting shares and undertaking the proposed bonus issue.

Around 98 per cent voted to adopt the new Constitution and the bonus issue.