Breaking up SPH is hard to do, says CEO Ng Yat Chung

SOME shareholders of Singapore Press Holdings T39 have seized on the company's recent divestment of sgCarMart for S$150 million to support the belief that piecemeal disposals of assets can extract a better value than Cuscaden Peak's all-cash offer of S$2.36 a share.

But this is not necessarily the reality, said SPH's chief executive Ng Yat Chung at a virtual information session organised by the Securities Investors Association (Singapore) last Friday (Mar 11). Details of the proceedings were released on Wednesday (Mar 16).

Ng said that while it would be fair to say that the price tag of S$150 million is "above average" of the valuation range, Cuscaden's all-cash consideration of S$2.36 is around two thirds of the valuation range based on the opinion of the independent financial adviser (IFA) - which set the range from S$1.93 to S$2.57.