SHARES of Citic Envirotech surged on Thursday morning shortly after the market opened, climbing as high as 44.6 per cent on news that its majority owner is planning to take it private.

As at 9.03am, shares were trading at S$0.535, compared with a last closing price of S$0.37 prior to a trading halt on Nov 4. Citic Envirotech called for the trade halt to be lifted on Wednesday evening.

An offer of S$0.55 in cash for each share was made by Citic Group Corp's Citic Environment Investment Group, according to an announcement on the pre-conditional exit offer launched on Wednesday.

This price marks a premium of about 68.5 per cent over the three-month volume-weighted average and values the company at S$1.34 billion. The offer vehicle is CKM (Cayman) Company.

The offeror said it does not plan to roll out major changes to Citic Envirotech's business, but it believes that the company "is unlikely to require access to Singapore capital markets to finance its operations in the foreseeable future".

Owners and management of the company would also have more control and flexibility over the company, along with savings on compliance costs with a delisting, it added.

The exit offer is subject to the approval of various Chinese authorities, and also needs shareholder approval at an extraordinary general meeting expected in the week of Dec 30.