IHC shares heavily traded after OUE's 'comfort letter'

Singapore

SHARES of International Healthway Corporation (IHC) jumped onto the list of actively traded stocks on Tuesday afternoon, an hour after the company requested trading to resume at 2pm. Close to 100 million shares changed hands for the day, against a three-month average of 18.5 million shares, with the stock rising to as much as 3.8 per cent to S$0.108 before settling at S$0.106, up 0.2 cent or 1.9 per cent.

In a boost to investors' confidence, developer OUE, which has launched a mandatory unconditional cash offer for all the IHC shares it does not already own, at 10.6 cents apiece, said in a comfort letter to IHC shareholders that it intends to review IHC's business and financial situation. The letter, dated Feb 17 - the day after OUE launched its takeover offer for IHC - said the developer would engage with IHC's creditors and stakeholders "with a view to understanding, addressing and, if necessary, restructuring the financing of the group".