Privatisation unhappiness: market is to blame

TAKEOVER/privatisation fever has gripped the local market in recent days as a flurry of these exercises have been announced. UIC kicked things off with its offer for Singapore Land, CapitaLand then grabbed the headlines with its plan to buy out all of CapitaMalls Asia (CMA), and a private consortium headed by Hotel Properties' boss Ong Beng Seng tabled a takeover of HPL that could eventually lead to HPL being delisted.

This, in turn, has sparked off a search for the next big privatisation play and driven the local market higher, as if this was something to be celebrated and trumpeted.

Truth be told, it isn't.