Amara surges 27% to all-time high on privatisation offer
The S$0.895 offer represents a 33% premium over the company’s net asset value per share as at end-December 2024
[SINGAPORE] Shares of hotel group Amara soared shortly after the market opened on Tuesday (Apr 29), after news broke on Monday that it received a voluntary conditional general offer at S$0.895 apiece.
The counter hit an all-time high of S$0.895 as at 9.09 am on Tuesday, as 172,400 shares changed hands. This marked a rise of S$0.19 or 27 per cent from its closing price on Apr 23 – the day before it called for a trading halt – where it ended S$0.02 or 2.9 per cent higher at S$0.705.
In the year to date, it represents a 57 per cent or S$0.325 rise from its closing price of S$0.57 on Dec 31, 2024, as shares of the group have been on a steady uptrend through the year.
By the midday trading break on Tuesday, the share price eased down to S$0.885 – still S$0.18 or 25.5 per cent above Monday’s close – with some 227,400 shares transacted.
Privatisation offer
On Monday, Amara received a privatisation offer from a consortium led by property company Hwa Hong, which was formerly listed on the Singapore Exchange.
The offeror, a special-purpose vehicle called DRC Investments, cited low trading liquidity of Amara’s shares and challenging macroeconomic conditions as reasons for seeking to privatise the company.
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Shareholders of the offeror include a fund jointly sponsored by Hwa Hong and Malaysia-based Newfields, which owns a 35 per cent stake in DRC Investments.
Albertsons Capital, whose shareholders include Amara’s chairman and chief executive Albert Teo and his daughter Dawn Teo, who is Amara’s chief operating officer, holds a 30 per cent stake in the offeror.
Another 35 per cent stake is held by Winteam Investment, a wholly owned subsidiary of property and retail company Wing Tai .
The S$0.895 offer is final and values the hotel group at around S$514.6 million.
It represents a premium of 27 per cent above Amara’s closing price of S$0.705 on Apr 23, the day before it called for a trading halt, and a 33 per cent premium over Amara’s net asset value per share as at end-December 2024.
The offeror secured irrevocable undertakings from a group of Amara shareholders with a combined stake of 90.58 per cent to vote in favour of the deal. The group includes Amethyst Assets, a special-purpose vehicle that proposed to privatise Amara in 2023.
Amara is an integrated lifestyle group that operates in hotel investment and management, property investment and development, as well as speciality restaurants and food services. Its portfolio includes its flagship Amara Singapore in Tanjong Pagar.
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