Acceptances push unconditional offer for Mary Chia past 90% mark

SUKI Sushi, which launched an unconditional mandatory offer for Catalist-listed Mary Chia Holdings earlier this year, now owns, controls or has agreed to acquire about 90.1 per cent of the latter, as at 5pm on Sept 27.

Under the rules of Catalist, should the offeror and parties in concert with the offeror own or control more than 90 per cent of the shares, the Singapore Exchange may suspend trading of the shares until it is satisfied that at least 10 per cent of it held by at least 200 shareholders who are members of the public.

And where the offeror succeeds in garnering acceptances exceeding 90 per cent of the shares, excluding treasury shares, the exchange will suspend the trading of the counter at the close of the offer.

Suki Sushi's offer for Mary Chia closes at 5.30pm on Oct 6.

The exchange may allow the company three months - or longer, if the former agrees to it - to raise the public float back up to at least 10 per cent, failing which the company may be delisted.

As at Sept 28, this 10 per cent requirement has not been satisfied, Mary Chia noted in its exchange filing on Thursday.

Suki Sushi had said in its offer document that it intends to maintain the listing status of the company on the Catalist.

In an update to the bourse on Wednesday night, CIMB Bank Berhad on behalf of Suki Sushi had said: "Accordingly, the offeror intends to take such steps which are necessary to restore the company's public float in order to maintain the listing status of the company after the close of the offer.

"However, there is no assurance that timely and appropriate actions can be taken as these are dependent on inter alia prevailing market conditions at the relevant time. In the event that the shareholding requirement cannot be met, trading in the shares may be suspended and/or the company may be delisted."

On Wednesday night, Suki Sushi had received valid acceptances representing about 9.13 per cent of the total number of Mary Chia shares. This comes in addition to the 80.97 per cent stake that Suki Sushi already owned, controlled or had agreed to acquire.

The mandatory general offer for Mary Chia at 11.1 Singapore cents apiece was triggered after Suki Sushi, which is controlled by Lee Boon Leng, entered into a deal to acquire 60.98 per cent of the beauty and slimming specialist from his mother-in-law, Mary Chia Ah Tow - its founder and executive chairman - for S$11 million.