For Ron Sim, a listing has lost its draw

RON Sim, a vocal critic of some of the Singapore Exchange's rules and practices, will finally take his company OSIM out of the local bourse, 16 years after it listed.

With that, the SGX would lose one of its best known stories, a rags-to-riches tale of a Chinatown salesman who claimed his place among Singapore's wealthiest.

On Monday, Mr Sim, OSIM's chairman and chief executive officer, announced an unconditional cash offer worth over S$300 million for the company's shares he doesn't already own in order to take Asia's biggest maker of massage chairs private. The businessman, who has direct and deemed interests of 69.25 per cent in OSIM, offered to buy the shares at S$1.32 apiece through his investment vehicle, Vision Three Pte Ltd. OSIM will be eventually delisted and privatised. Apart from massage chairs, the company distributes vitamins and health supplements under the GNC and RichLife store chain, and also owns TWG Tea.