UOL Group Ltd (華業集團) and Haw Par Corp (虎豹企業), two listed companies largely owned by 88-year-old Singapore billionaire Wee Cho Yaw (黃祖耀), announced a deal that could make UOL one of the largest owners of commercial space in Singapore.
Property investor UOL is to sell 27.3 million new shares to Tiger Balm maker and investment holding firm Haw Par in exchange for 60 million United Industrial Corp (UIC, 聯合工業) shares owned by Haw Par’s wholly owned subsidiary, UOL said in a statement to the Singapore stock exchange.
On completion, UOL’s stake in United Industrial would increase from 44.71 percent to 48.94 percent, it said.
The deal “will offer greater diversification by increasing access to UIC’s commercial property portfolio in the Singapore Central Business District,” UOL said in the statement. “The proposed transaction will enable UOL and UIC to further align strategic interests and collaborate to acquire land banks, office and retail properties.”
UOL shares jumped as much as 5.5 percent in early Singapore trading and were up 0.9 percent at S$7.75 at 10:01am Singapore time.
United Industrial added 1.2 percent, while Haw Par fell 0.4 percent.
“UOL has assessed that it will exercise de facto control over UIC, as it will become the single-largest shareholder,” said Tata Goeyardi, a director at Religare Capital Markets in Singapore.
The group will consolidate UIC into its accounts and UOL has plans of achieving statutory control of UIC in the future, Goeyardi said.
Investor and hotel operator UOL owns the Pan Pacific and Parkroyal brands, while United Industrial has built high-end office and residential buildings in Singapore. United Industrial has been controlled by Wee and Philippine billionaire John Gokongwei, who is 90.
UOL has received a waiver from the Securities Industry Council of Singapore and is not obliged to make a mandatory general offer for UIC as a result of the share acquisition, on condition that UOL’s stake in UIC does not exceed 49 percent, the statement said.
The deal is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, with all conditions to be satisfied by Oct. 31.
With a net worth of about US$7.3 billion, Wee is Singapore’s second-richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He famously turned a local lender, United Overseas Bank Ltd (大華銀行), into Southeast Asia’s third-biggest bank.
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