Stocks to watch: SIIC, Metro, CityDev

THE following stocks had announcements that could affect trading activity on Wednesday.

SIIC Environment Holdings plans to buy a China-based water treatment business in a deal valued at about 1.55 billion yuan (S$348.3 million) in cash and shares, the water specialist announced late Tuesday.

SIIC said it plans to buy all of Global Envirotech Investment, which in turn holds an indirect 92.15 per cent stake in Fudan Water Engineering and Technology Co, from Global Environment Investment. SIIC will pay 151.7 million yuan in cash and issue 1.56 billion new shares, or 16.3 per cent of the existing shares, at 13.2 Singapore cents apiece. The total consideration includes 479.18 million yuan that will be used to pay off an outstanding debt.

The issue price for the consideration shares represents a 12.2 per cent discount to the volume-weighted average price of SIIC shares on Tuesday. SIIC stock closed at 15 Singapore cents on Tuesday before the announcement.

A 50 per cent subsidiary of retailer and developer Metro Holdings has agreed to sell its entire stake in a Chinese mall. Metro's share of the sale is about US$89.7 million. Metro shares closed at 96 Singapore cents on Tuesday.

City Developments managed to sell S$125 million of five-year senior unsecured bonds to yield 3 per cent, which bookrunner OCBC described as "one of the most aggressive pricings a property issuer has achieved in the past few years".

The yield represented a 78 basis point spread over the five-year swap offer rate. CityDev stock closed at S$10.19 on Tuesday.