Kingboard Copper's IFA advice to reject offer a triumph for minorities

IT'S not often that independent financial advisers (IFAs) recommend rejecting a takeover in which the offer price is pitched at a generous and seemingly attractive 49 per cent premium over the 12-month weighted average price, or a 17.6 per cent premium over the last traded stock price before trading was halted in order to announce the offer.

Yet this was the case with Kingboard Copper Foil (KCF), which is the subject of a delisting and privatisation bid at S$0.40 per share from its Hong Kong-listed majority shareholder Kingboard Chemical, the second time in about eight years that such a bid has been tabled.

In an April 3 circular to shareholders, KCF said Provenance Capital, the IFA appointed as adviser to the company's independent directors, has concluded that the offer is not fair and not reasonable.