OSIM buying errors leave some to count the cost

Singapore

SHARES of lifestyle products group OSIM International went up two cents to S$1.39 on Monday to match a raised offer but an apparent blunder in founder Ron Sim's takeover bid process has left a bad taste in some investors' mouths.

The stock opened and closed at that level on Monday with 19.7 million shares traded after Credit Suisse (CS), which is acting for Mr Sim in his bid to take the company private, said in a bourse filing late on Friday night last week that Mr Sim's final offer would be raised.

The new final offer price is S$1.39 per share excluding a two-cent dividend, above Mr Sim's previous, "final" offer of S$1.37 per share ex-dividend.

For shareholders still hanging on to their stake, this may be reason to cheer. But the upward revision also means investors who sold their OSIM shares on the open market last Tuesday at S$1.37-1.38 believing that S$1.37 was indeed Mr Sim's absolutely final offer price have lost out as a result, some market participants say. That day a trading halt that took effect on April 4 was lifted. But towards the end of trading, a new halt took place an…