New Datapulse chairman makes cash offer of S$0.09 for shares at 68.7% discount to NAV

ANG Kong Meng, the newly-appointed chairman at Datapulse Technology following a recent shake-up of the company’s board, on Friday (Aug 11) launched a mandatory conditional cash offer to acquire all the hotel and hospitality company’s shares at a unit price of S$0.09. 

The offer comes shortly after Ang acquired some 41.9 million Datapulse shares from the company’s former chairman Aw Cheok Huat via a married deal. These shares represented just shy of 17.5 per cent of the company’s share capital excluding treasury shares. Datapulse is currently on the SGX watchlist.

Prior to the acquisition, Ang owned some 61.6 million shares or a stake of about 25.7 per cent. Following the acquisition, his stake was lifted to about 43.2 per cent or 103.5 million shares. 

This triggered the mandatory conditional cash offer for all the company’s shares excluding treasury shares and those already owned, controlled and agreed to be acquired by Ang. 

An announcement by SAC Capital, who is the financial adviser to Ang, said the offer price is final. Ang does not intend to revise the offer price. 

The offer price is 2.2 per cent lower than the counter’s last transacted price of S$0.092 on Aug 10, ahead of the trading halt called for by the company. 

The price is on a par with the volume-weighted average price (VWAP) for Datapulse shares traded over the past month, but represents discounts of 3.2 per cent, 4.3 per cent and 5.3 per cent against the VWAPs per share for the three-month, six-month and 12-month period respectively.

The offer price also represents a 68.7 per cent discount to the company’s net asset value of S$0.2875 as at Jan 1, according to the company’s last published financial statements. 

The offer price for warrants will be S$0.01 in cash. This price is based on the highest amount paid by the offeror and parties acting in concert with the offeror in the six months prior to the offer announcement date. 

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As at the offer announcement date, Ang holds about 50 million warrants, and does not intend to exercise any of the warrants he holds during the period commencing from the offer announcement date until the date the offer is declared to have closed or lapsed. 

The offer is conditional upon Ang having received valid acceptances for him to control more than 50 per cent of Datapulse by the close of the offer. 

SAC Capital said Ang intends to maintain the present listing status of the company on the Singapore Exchange and to carry on its existing businesses. 

The offeror presently has no intention to introduce any major changes to the existing businesses of the company, redeploy fixed assets of the group, or discontinue the employment of the employees of the group other than in the ordinary course of business, it added. 

“However, the offeror retains and reserves the right and flexibility at any time and from time to time to further consider any options or opportunities which may present themselves and which the offeror regards to be in the best interests of the offeror and/or the company,” it warned.