OUE plans off-market purchase of ordinary shares at $1.25 apiece
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The company will buy back up to around 84 million shares.
PHOTO: BUSINESS TIMES
Navene Elangovan
SINGAPORE – Property developer OUE on May 20 proposed undertaking an off-market purchase of its ordinary shares at $1.25 a piece under an equal access scheme.
The offer price represents a 20 per cent premium over the average of the last dealt prices of the share over the last five consecutive market days on the Singapore Exchange.
The company will buy back up to around 84 million shares, or about 10 per cent of its shares in issue, as at Apr 26 – the day the group’s share purchase mandate was approved. Assuming OUE buys back the maximum number of shares available, the company will commit $105.1 million. This amount will be funded through internal resources or external borrowings, the company said.
The proposed offer is not expected to result in a material adverse effect on the working capital requirements and gearing of the company.
Each shareholder will be entitled to sell 10 per cent of their total number of shares held in their own name, the group said in a bourse filing.
The offer will be open for acceptance by shareholders for 28 calendar days from May 30, which is the day the acceptance form for shareholders will be dispatched.
It will close at 5.30pm on June 27, which is also the record date, based on an indicative timeline.
All shares purchased or acquired by the company in connection with the offer will be cancelled immediately on purchase.
OUE said the offer is to reward shareholders for their loyalty and gives shareholders an “equitable opportunity” to realise a portion of their investments in the shares at a premium over recent market prices of the shares.
It also provides shareholders who find it difficult to sell a meaningful portion of their shareholdings in the company with an opportunity to realise a portion of their investments in the shares, which may not otherwise be readily available due to their low trading liquidity.
The offer will also allow the company to enhance shareholders’ value by reducing the total number of shares in issue, thereby increasing the earnings per share and net asset value per share of the company.
OUE’s shares ended 0.9 per cent lower at $1.05 on May 20 before the announcement.
