Poor trading conditions driving founder-led privatisations

THE proposed privatisation of Soilbuild Business Space Reit on Monday marks the latest in a string of founder buyouts of Singapore-listed businesses that have found their share prices pressured by Covid-19 challenges this year.

There have been about nine such transactions in 2020, spread across a range of sectors including real estate, construction, consumer retail, industrial, commodities and food & beverage. Perhaps this shows the pandemic is no respecter of industries.

BreadTalk co-founders, husband-and-wife pair George Quek and Katherine Lee, started the ball rolling in February when they made a S$0.77-per-share offer for the company, which reported FY19 losses hampered by poor performances in its China, Thailand and Hong Kong units.