Keppel announces distribution of 19,100 SembMarine shares for every 1,000 Keppel shares

Keppel shareholders will receive $2,597.60 worth of Sembmarine shares for every 1,000 Keppel shares they own. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - Keppel Corp on Thursday said shareholders are entitled to receive 19.1 SembCorp Marine (Sembmarine) shares for every Keppel share they own.

The announcement to distribute 33.4 billion Sembmarine shares to holders of 1.8 billion Keppel shares comes after the shareholders of SembMarine voted for a merger with Keppel Offshore & Marine.

Going by Sembmarine’s closing price of 13.6 cents on Thursday, Keppel shareholders will receive $2,597.60 worth of Sembmarine shares for every 1,000 Keppel shares they own.

Keppel on Thursday evening informed shareholders of its intention to distribute the bulk of the 36.8 billion new Sembmarine shares it will receive in return for giving up its wholly owned unit Keppel Offshore & Marine (O&M) to Sembmarine.

But to get the shares, shareholders must own on record their Keppel stock as at 5pm on Feb 24. This is the official “book closure” date for this in-specie distribution.

The shares will be distributed to Keppel shareholders by March 1.

All this comes on the heels of Sembmarine shareholders giving overwhelming approval for the merger of their company with Keppel O&M.

During a virtual extraordinary general meeting on Thursday, the $4.5 billion merger deal obtained 95.28 per cent approval from voting Sembmarine shareholders. Sembmarine needed only shareholders holding more than 50 per cent in value of its shares to vote for the acquisition.

State investment company Temasek, which holds 54.6 per cent of Sembmarine as its largest shareholder, abstained from voting. Post-merger, Temasek will hold 35.5 per cent of the new entity.

Keppel Corp shareholders gave their nod to the deal on Dec 8, 2022, with an overwhelming vote of 99.96 per cent.

Under the exchange ratio worked out for the merger, Keppel will receive 54 per cent of the enlarged Sembmarine share base, or 36.8 billion shares.

After distributing 33.4 billion Sembmarine shares to its shareholders, it is retaining 3.4 billion shares, or 5 per cent.

The Sembmarine-Keppel O&M merger is expected to be completed by Feb 28, creating one of the world’s leading offshore and marine energy engineering players with an order book of almost $20 billion.

Correction note: This article has been updated to reflect that Keppel shareholders will get 19.1 new Sembmarine shares for every Keppel share they own, instead of 19.13 as previously reported.

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