Consortium led by Sim Lian chairman launches cash offer for Sim Lian Group

A CONSORTIUM led by the founder of Sim Lian Group (SLG) is seeking to privatise and delist the property developer.

In a release to the Singapore Exchange on Monday night, Coronation 3G said that it is making a voluntary conditional cash offer of S$1.08 per share for all the outstanding shares in SLG that it doesn't own or has agreed to acquire.

The offer price, which is final, represents a premium of 14.9 per cent over the last traded price of S$0.94 per share on Aug 4.

Coronation 3G is a Singapore incorporated investment holding company owned by the Kuik family and led by Kuik Ah Han, founder and executive chairman of SLG.

"Coronation 3G believes that the offer presents SLG shareholders with a compelling cash exit opportunity given the illiquidity of its shares," it said in a release, pointing out that the shares have not traded at or above the offer price since listing on the Singapore Exchange in 2000.

Coronation 3G has secured irrevocable undertakings representing 80.36 per cent of the total number of issued shares in SLG from Sim Lian Holdings and a number of individuals from the Kuik family.

The offer is conditional on Coronation 3G receiving acceptances or acquiring shares representing not less than 90 per cent of the total number of issued shares.