Dual-listed China New Town seeks delisting from SGX
China New Town Development Co is seeking a voluntary
delisting from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) to trade only on the Stock Exchange
of Hong Kong to save on costs and improve liquidity.
Remisier kings
The cousins who have taken over Peter Lim’s throne View PDF
Comments
Kenneth Lim
19 October 2016
China New Town Development Co is seeking a voluntary delisting from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) to trade only on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong to save on costs and improve liquidity.
The China-based township developer is making an exit offer of seven Singapore cents a share to Singapore shareholders. Those who prefer to stay invested in the company may arrange to have their shares transferred to Hong Kong.
China New Town says its delisting move in Singapore is not a privatisation exercise as it intends to maintain its Hong Kong primary listing.
The exit offer price is higher than what China New Town's Singapore shareholders have seen in more than a year. The last time the stock traded at seven Singapore cents or higher was on July 27, 2015, according to data from ShareInvestor.com.
When China New Town halted the trading of its shares on Sept 26 pending the delisting announcement, its shares had been trading at 6.4 Singapore cents. On Tuesday, as trading resumed following the announcement, the shares rose to 6.8 Singapore cents.
The controlling concert group, which directly and indirectly own in aggregate about 54.3 per cent of China New Town, has undertaken not to participate in the selective share buyback. The company said it has also received irrevocable undertakings from shareholders holding in total a stake of about 20.2 per cent.
The delisting proposal is subject to the approval of independent shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting. China New Town said that the SGX has indicated it has no objection to the delisting subject to specified conditions.
It added that the board would in due course appoint an independent financial adviser to advise its independent board committee.
China New Town reversed a year-ago loss to post a net profit of 101 million yuan (S$20.8 million) for the six months ended June 30. This was due to a 99.5 million yuan gain on reorganisation of a joint venture. Six-month revenue grew 83 per cent to 108.6 million yuan.
Net asset value as at end-June was 0.3761 yuan per share, up from the 0.3647 yuan per share balance from six months earlier. Operating cash flow was a positive 311.9 million yuan for the six months ended June, and cash and cash equivalents at mid-year stood at 2.2 billion yuan.