Lee Kim Tah buying out minority shareholders in bid to go private

They’re offering a 6.4% premium to the stock’s last traded price.

Mainboard-listed construction and real estate firm Lee Kim Tah’s founding Lee family has launched a voluntary conditional general offer to take the company private, offering S$1.08/share to buy out minority shareholders.

According to OSK DMG, this represents a 6.4% premium to the last traded price. Including concert parties, the offeror holds in aggregate 86.4% of the issued shares, and does not intend to preserve the listing status of the company if it crosses the 90% shareholding level. 

“We think the offer is fair, at a 16-23% discount to our fair value range of S$1.28-1.41/share. A successful legal resolution to the group’s large township in Chennai would put fair value towards the upper range of our valuation. We recommend shareholders to accept the offer,” noted OSK DMG.

Here’s more from the report:

LKT’s key assets include a 50% stake in suburban retail mallJurong Point, hotel and investment properties in Sydney, an associate stake in Marco Polo Xiamen Hotel and a 74.85% stake in an integrated township in Chennai. 

Its construction arm is also active in India where the group has secured several contracts in Bangalore and Chennai with its partner Woh Hup.

The Lee family has been actively buying up the stock in the open market for many years, culminating in the latest general offer.