Listed companies splurged $45m in share buybacks in November

OCBC led the pack.

Twenty-six companies bought back a total of 41.9 million shares in the month of November, according to a report from the SGX.

Share buybacks amounted to $44.7m last month, bringing the year-to-date total consideration to $1.9b.

The five stocks with the largest considerations in buybacks in the month of November 2015 were Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Hyflux, United Overseas Bank, Osim International and Singapore Technologies Engineering.

OCBC bought 1.4 million shares for a total consideration of $12.6m, while Hyflux spent $9m to purchase 14 million shares.

UOB snapped up 268,146 shares for a total consideration of $5.2m, while OSIM bought 3.34 million shares for $4.64m.

ST Engineering snapped up 962,300 shares for $2.84m.

The two common motivations for a listed company to buy shares back from the open market are when shares are undervalued or when shares will be sued for employee share option schemes, the SGX said.

“The former is typically cited when the share price reaches levels that are seen to provide good value for company capital. The latter will be of particular relevance amidst tight labour markets where companies offer share bonuses to employees,” the report said.