Novo Tellus unit makes partial offer of 36.5 S cents for 51% stake in Procurri

A UNIT of Procurri Corporation's largest shareholder Novo Tellus on Monday launched a partial offer to acquire an additional 27.91 per cent of Procurri's shares at 36.5 Singapore cents per share.

Mainboard-listed Procurri, a provider of IT lifecycle services and data centre equipment, will remain publicly listed to provide an opportunity for shareholders to participate in the company's future financial performance, it said in a bourse filing.

The offer price represents an estimated premium of 32.7 per cent over Procurri's last traded price of 27.5 Singapore cents on March 10, the last full trading day before a trading halt was called on March 11. Prior to the trading halt, Procurri last traded at 29.5 Singapore cents on March 11.

It also represents about 24.1 per cent, 17 per cent, 17.7 per cent and 20.5 per cent over the volume-weighted average price per share for the one-month, three-month, six-month and 12-month periods prior to and including March 10.

The offeror, NTCP SPV VIII, is an investment vehicle owned by Singapore-based private equity fund Novo Tellus PE Fund 2.

If the partial offer is successful, the offeror will own a 51 per cent stake in Procurri as a result of share transfers from another Novo Tellus wholly-owned subsidiary and co-investor ACT Holdings, which are part of the deal.

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Procurri's key management shareholders have also provided an irrevocable undertaking to tender 50 per cent of their shares in acceptance of the partial offer.

The offeror intends to work with Procurri's board to undertake a comprehensive strategic review of the business to create sustainable value for shareholders.

This comes as it believes Procurri "faces a very challenging transition", with limited revenue visibility and large investments needed to generate future growth. As a result, the offeror believes Procurri's earnings prospects may be depressed and may not be in a position to pay dividends in the next few years.

OCBC is the sole financial adviser to the offeror in connection with the partial offer.

Procurri shares closed at S$0.34 on Monday, up 15.25 per cent or S$0.045.