Second Chance loses free float; offeror to exercise right of compulsory acquisition
THE offerors of Second Chance Properties – chief executive Mohamed Salleh and his family – will be making a compulsory acquisition of all the shares of the company.
As at 6 pm on Thursday (Sep 12), the total number of shares owned, controlled or agreed to be acquired by Salleh and his family, as well as valid acceptances of the offer, amounted to 915 million shares.
This represents about 98.62 per cent of the total number of shares of Second Chance Properties in issue.
Earlier in July, Salleh and his family launched a voluntary unconditional offer to take the mainboard-listed real estate company private at S$0.30 per share in cash.
As more than 90 per cent of its shares have been or will be acquired, the company no longer meets the Singapore Exchange’s free-float requirement, under which an issuer must ensure at least 10 per cent of its total number of issued shares are held by the public.
This means that Second Chance Properties’ owners can take the company private and it “will in due course” exercise its right of compulsory acquisition.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Subject to the completion of the compulsory acquisition, the offeror intends to make an application to the Singapore Exchange to delist the company, at a date to be announced in due course.
Shareholders who have not accepted the offer of S$0.30 per share have until 5.30 pm on Sep 27 to do so.
When the privatisation offer was first announced, Salleh and his family said that the company’s shares have low trading liquidity and it has incurred costs related to maintaining its listing status which could be avoided if delisted.
The offer price represented premiums of about 40.8 per cent, 37 per cent, 33.3 per cent and 28.2 per cent over the one-month, three-month, six-month and 12-month volume-weighted average prices, respectively, up to and including the last trading date prior to the offer announcement.
Salleh and his family said that they intend for the company to continue to develop and grow its existing businesses.
Shares of Second Chance Properties were trading flat at S$0.30 as at 9.11 am on Friday.