Keppel Corp fails to hit compulsory acquisition threshold for Keppel Land buyout

Keppel Corp failed to hit the compulsory acquisition threshold needed to complete the buyout of Keppel Land by the end of the offer close.

Late on Tuesday evening, it released a report saying that it now owns 95.1 per cent of Keppel Land as at March 31, 5.30pm, just 0.4 percentage points short of the 95.5 per cent threshold.

This means that the offer price will remain at a base price of S$4.38 per Keppel Land share, rather than the higher price of S$4.60 a piece if the threshold had been reached.

Remaining shareholders who have not tendered have a right to require Keppel Corp to acquire their shares at S$4.38 in cash, joint financial advisers DBS and Credit Suisse said in the report.

This essentially allows the shareholders to exit rather than stay stuck with illiquid private shares.

Keppel Land lost one cent to end at S$4.45 on the stockmarket on Tuesday. Some 2.1 million shares changed hands.

The Singapore Exchange will suspend trading of the shares henceforth.

"Keppel Corporation Limited intends to take steps to delist Keppel Land Limited from the SGX-ST following the close of the offer," said the financial advisers.