HNA offers to buy out CWT

HONG KONG-LISTED HNA Holding Group on Sunday evening announced a pre-conditional voluntary general cash offer (VGO) through a Singapore-incorporated subsidiary for all issued and paid-up ordinary shares in Singapore-listed CWT

The offer pegged at S$2.33 per share values CWT at just under S$1.4 billion.

CWT shareholders representing 65.13 per cent of the total number of issued shares in the Singapore-listed entity have extended irrevocable written undertakings to HNA Holding Group.

These include shares held by C&P Holdings and members of the founding families of Loi, Lim and Liao, behind CWT.

HNA Holding Group said that with the VGO, it wants to reserve the right to delist CWT from the Singapore Exchange once it receives acceptances from shareholders representing over 90 per cent of the issued shares in the Singapore-listed entity.

The VGO is subject to several pre-conditions including HNA Holding Group's shareholders' approval of the offer for CWT at a general meeting.

The long-stop date for the VGO is Sept 9, 2017, five months from the announced offer.

CWT's shares last changed hands at S$2.07 on April 6 before the listed company headed into a trading halt.