ON Friday (Oct 29), a consortium of companies comprising Hotel Properties (HPL) and its managing director Ong Beng Seng, and 2 Temasek-linked entities, CLA Real Estate and Mapletree Investments, launched a surprise rival offer for Singapore Press Holdings (SPH).

Who is Ong Beng Seng?

Ong, together with his wife Christina Ong are among Singapore's wealthiest couples - Forbes put their net worth at US$1.7 billion as of August - and their business interests span a wide range of industries including hotels, fashion, and food and beverage companies. Ong is also credited as being one of those responsible for first bringing the Formula 1 night race to Singapore in 2008.

Hotel Properties Ltd

Popularly known by his initials OBS, Ong is the co-founder of HPL - a conglomerate with interests in hotel ownership, management and operation; property development; and investment holding.

As of last December, the group had a portfolio of 38 hotels and resorts across 15 countries including Italy, the Maldives and Vanuatu. Brands within the portfolio include Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Hard Rock Hotels, Hilton International and Marriott International.

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It also runs Hard Rock Cafe outlets in South-east Asian countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

In Singapore, the group has 3 hotels in its portfolio - Concorde, Four Seasons and Hilton - all in the vicinity of Orchard Road. HPL also has commercial and retail properties along the shopping belt, including Forum The Shopping Mall, and shop units at Concorde Shopping Mall.

SPH holds 65.4 per cent of SPH Reit, which owns shopping malls including Paragon along Orchard Road. The consortium making the offer for SPH has said that if the offer is successful, it could be obliged to also make an offer for SPH Reit.

Como Group

Christina Ong is the founder and owner of Como Group, which has interests across hospitality, fashion, wellness, organic living and specialty foods.

The group runs retail empire Club 21, which partners luxury fashion brands and designers, and manages over 250 fashion brands across 400 stores in Asia. Brands carried by Club 21 include Calvin Klein, Mulberry and DKNY.

The group has a hospitality business under Como Hotels and Resorts, and it also operates a food and beverage business, which includes Como Dempsey.

Past dealings

This is not the first time that the billionaire business tycoon has mounted a challenge for a Singapore Exchange-listed company in partnership with Temasek-linked entities.

Between 2002 and 2003, Ong led a consortium, 98 Holdings, in a bid for steelmaker NatSteel. The consortium also involved Temasek.

The consortium narrowly won control of NatSteel, following a battle with business tycoon Oei Hong Leong.

SPH, which publishes The Business Times, received a privatisation offer from Keppel Corporation in August. This offer comprises cash of S$0.668 per share, 0.596 Keppel Reit unit and 0.782 SPH Reit unit per share. 

Based on Thursday's (Oct 28) closing price of S$1.10 and S$0.975, respectively, for Keppel Reit and SPH Reit units, Keppel's privatisation offer would have been worth around S$2.086 per share.