Delong to delist from SGX on Sept 26 after CEO's buyout

STEELMAKER Delong Holdings will be delisted from the Singapore Exchange with effect from 9am on Sept 26, the mainboard-listed firm said in a bourse filing on Tuesday.

This comes after chief executive officer Ding Liguo's privatisation offer closed on Sept 10, with the offeror and concert parties owning 98.75 per cent of the total number of shares.

Trading of Delong shares were suspended on Sept 11, with its shares closing unchanged at S$6.98 the previous day.

In July, Mr Ding had made a voluntary cash offer to take Delong private at S$7 per share via his vehicle Best Grace Holdings, after an aborted privatisation attempt at the same price last September that breached Singapore's takeover code.

The appointed independent financial adviser PricewaterhouseCoopers Corporate Finance said last month that the offer was "not fair but reasonable". Delong's independent directors recommended that shareholders accept the offer.

The new delisting rules by the Singapore Exchange (SGX) do not apply in Delong's case, as the offeror will end up holding 100 per cent of the company's issued shares after the compulsory acquisition.

The Singapore Exchange changed its rules in July, requiring voluntary delisting offers (including scheme of arrangements and general offers) to be both "fair" and "reasonable" in the IFA's opinion.