Oxley raises UE stake to 11.57% with S$2.688 per share purchases

OXLEY Holdings continued to raise its stake in United Engineers over the past week, acquiring 5.3 million shares at about S$2.688 apiece from the open market.

The acquisition price represents a premium of about 3.4 per cent over a S$2.60 per share cash offer that has been made by a consortium led by Perennial Real Estate Holdings and Yanlord Land Group.

Oxley, a property developer, bought S$3.5 million of shares on Aug 18 and a further S$10.8 million on Aug 21. It now holds an 11.57 per cent stake in United Engineers, a property development and engineering company.

Oxley deputy chief executive Low See Ching also directly holds an additional 1.02 per cent stake in United Engineers.

The takeover bid will turn unconditional only if the offeror gains control of at least 50 per cent of United Engineers' shares. The offeror and its concert parties currently hold a combined stake of about 33.4 per cent. The consortium has said that it plans to keep United Engineers listed.