SIA reiterates offer for Tiger 'compelling', recommended by analysts

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) reiterated that its takeover bid for Tiger Airways is fair and "compelling", and that market analysts have also recommended that shareholders accept the company's offer.

"Singapore Airlines reiterates that it believes the offer is compelling, with the offer price representing premiums of between 32 per cent and 42 per cent over the last traded price; and the one-month and three-month volume weighted average prices of Tiger Airways shares preceding the announcement of the offer," wrote SIA in a filing to the Singapore Exchange on Monday before the market opened.

SIA issued the filing in response to an open letter from SIAS dated Dec 18 in relation to the offer for the shares in Tiger Airways that Singapore Airlines does not already own. SIA - which holds a near 56 per cent stake in Tiger - announced in November that it was seeking to delist and privatise the low cost carrier to fully integrate it within the SIA group

In a letter to the SIA board on Friday, SIAS chief David Gerald singled out the concerns of long-term Tiger minority shareholders, saying: "These are the shareholders who are not satisfied and may not accept the offer. The reason for their investing in Tiger Airways, they say, is because of the fact that SIA was behind Tiger. This fact brought them comfort."

In Monday's filing, SIA stated that the independent financial adviser appointed by Tiger Airways to evaluate the offer noted that the financial terms of the offer "are, on balance, fair and reasonable".

SIA also wrote that Tiger Airways' independent directors have recommended that shareholders accept the offer. It also noted that "the majority of analysts who cover Tiger Airways have recommended that shareholders accept the offer".

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