OCBC has 97.5% of Wing Hang in the bag

OCBC is set for a full takeover of Wing Hang Bank, upon which it has staked its Greater China strategy. The bank said yesterday that it had secured 97.5 per cent of Wing Hang at the close of its offer.

Because the percentage of acceptances of its S$6.2 billion offer crossed the 90 per cent mark, OCBC has the right to acquire all other shares that it does not control. It plans to do so, it said in a regulatory filing yesterday, and will proceed to delist Wing Hang.

At the time of the offer announcement in April, OCBC had already received acceptances of its offer that amounted to 50.7 per cent of Wing Hang. But there had been recent speculation that OCBC would have to raise its offer price of HK$125 per share, after US hedge fund Elliott Capital Advisors accumulated a 7.8 per cent Wing Hang stake.