Keppel commences S$500 million share buyback programme

THERE were 4 primary-listed stocks conducting share buybacks over the 21/2 sessions through to Feb 3, with a total consideration of S$5.7 million. Aside from an abbreviated trading week, less share buyback activity is expected at this time of the year, as financial reporting gathers pace.

Keppel Corporation BN4 led the consideration tally, buying back 977,600 shares over the 21/2 sessions at an average price of S$5.68 per share.

On Jan 27, Keppel Corporation announced it had established a S$500 million share buyback programme, in accordance with the share purchase mandate granted by its shareholders at the company's previous AGM. The group noted that shares repurchased will be held as treasury shares which will be used in part for the annual vesting of employee share plans, but also as possible currency for future merger and acquisition (M&A) activities.

The pursuit of strategic M&A opportunities to accelerate chosen growth engines is a part of Keppel Corporation's Vision 2030 initiative. In its recent FY21 results Q&A session, Keppel reiterated it was further exploring M&A opportunities in Europe and the US such as data centre platforms, in addition to Asia and its asset management platforms (for bolt-on acquisitions). It added it was also looking at several opportunities in the environmental engineering space, the environmental solutions space, and on the infrastructure side too.

Secondary-listings Hongkong Land H78 and Jardine Matheson Holdings J36 also bought back shares during the final sessions of January. The abbreviated trading week saw no new director transactions filed between Jan 28 and Feb 3, while substantial shareholders filed 3 acquisitions and 2 disposals.

The writer is the market strategist at Singapore Exchange (SGX). To read SGX's market research reports, visit sgx.com/research.