SINGAPORE – Thailand’s richest man Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi is poised to start examining the finances of United Engineers Ltd, people with knowledge of the matter said, laying the groundwork for a potential acquisition of the Singapore property and construction company.
Mr Charoen's TCC Top Enterprise Ltd plans to begin due diligence on United Engineers and its WBL Corp unit next week, the people said, asking not to be named as the process is private. Exclusive talks with minority shareholder Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp and its insurance arm will expire six weeks after due diligence starts, according to an August filing.
Billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, chairman of Thai Beverage Pcl, speaks with guests as he attends a charity event in Bangkok Wednesday. (Bloomberg photo)
OCBC, its Great Eastern Holdings Ltd unit and the bank's founding Lee family own a combined 34.1% stake in United Engineers, according to a filing in August last year. Under Singapore rules, buying more than 30% would trigger a mandatory takeover offer for United Engineers, which has a market capitalization of S$1.83 billion ($1.4 billion).
Representatives for TCC, OCBC and United Engineers declined to comment or weren't immediately available.
Shares in United Engineers have jumped 26 percent since Aug. 21, when news broke about Mr Charoen's talks to buy OCBC's stake in the company. They have traded at an average S$2.84 since Aug. 22, the day after OCBC disclosed the discussions.
United Engineers has been divesting assets after buying Singapore-based builder WBL Corp last year for $725 million including debt. It reached a deal in October to sell a majority stake in an engineering and construction business, UE E&C Ltd, for S$230 million. In August, United Engineers agreed to sell its car-dealership unit to Malaysia's Samling Group for S$455 million and its MFS Technology business for S$124 million.
(21-01-2015, 12:24 PM)tiyana Wrote: been trading up past few days with improved volume.
i guess an announcement is imminent ?
The Exclusive agreement between OCBC , GE and TCC Assets will end next friday on the 30th of Jan... Today is the 21st of Jan...a mere 9days away....I am suspecting an announcement before the expiry date...There should be 2 offers here on the table.. 1 offer for UE shares (OCBC + GE combined stakes) and another offer for WBL (OCBC + GE combined stakes) shares ... hopefullly the Lee Pineapple grp is on board as well
(21-01-2015, 12:24 PM)tiyana Wrote: been trading up past few days with improved volume.
i guess an announcement is imminent ?
The Exclusive agreement between OCBC , GE and TCC Assets will end next friday on the 30th of Jan... Today is the 21st of Jan...a mere 9days away....I am suspecting an announcement before the expiry date...There should be 2 offers here on the table.. 1 offer for UE shares (OCBC + GE combined stakes) and another offer for WBL (OCBC + GE combined stakes) shares ... hopefullly the Lee Pineapple grp is on board as well
(21-01-2015, 12:24 PM)tiyana Wrote: been trading up past few days with improved volume.
i guess an announcement is imminent ?
The Exclusive agreement between OCBC , GE and TCC Assets will end next friday on the 30th of Jan... Today is the 21st of Jan...a mere 9days away....I am suspecting an announcement before the expiry date...There should be 2 offers here on the table.. 1 offer for UE shares (OCBC + GE combined stakes) and another offer for WBL (OCBC + GE combined stakes) shares ... hopefullly the Lee Pineapple grp is on board as well
24-01-2015, 11:42 AM (This post was last modified: 24-01-2015, 11:43 AM by tiyana.)
(21-01-2015, 01:43 PM)toiletsiao Wrote:
(21-01-2015, 12:24 PM)tiyana Wrote: been trading up past few days with improved volume.
i guess an announcement is imminent ?
The Exclusive agreement between OCBC , GE and TCC Assets will end next friday on the 30th of Jan... Today is the 21st of Jan...a mere 9days away....I am suspecting an announcement before the expiry date...There should be 2 offers here on the table.. 1 offer for UE shares (OCBC + GE combined stakes) and another offer for WBL (OCBC + GE combined stakes) shares ... hopefullly the Lee Pineapple grp is on board as well
interestingly, the share sale of Wearnes has the same 30th Jan 2015 end date:
a sale and purchase agreement (“SPA”) dated 23 August 2014 between the Share
Seller and StarChase Motorsports (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (the “Share Purchaser”),
pursuant to which, amongst other things, the Share Seller has agreed to dispose of
the entire issued and paid-up share capital (the “Sale Shares”) in each of (i)
Wearnes Automotive Pte. Ltd. (“WAPL”); and (ii) Associated Motor Industries
(Private) Limited (“AMI”) (collectively, the “Sale Companies”) to the Share
Purchaser on the Main Closing.....
[i]''The Share Seller and the Share Purchaser are required to use all reasonable
endeavours to ensure the satisfaction of the conditions precedent in subparagraphs
(iii) to (vi) above as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event by 30 January 2015 or such later date as the parties may mutually agree in writing
(“Long Stop Date”)''[/i]
Homepage
PR Newswire
