Boustead Projects seeks another 3 months to comply with public float rule
Tay Peck Gek
BOUSTEAD Projects has applied to the Singapore Exchange Regulation for yet another three-month extension for it to comply with the public float rule, which requires at least 10 per cent of its shares to be in public hands.
The real estate-solutions provider requested the extension to take effect from Jun 27, when its first three-month period to resolve the matter would have ended, it said in a bourse filing on Friday (Jun 23).
The Singapore Exchange may grant an issuer a period of three months to raise the percentage of securities in public hands to 10 per cent, after which the issuer may be directed to delist and provide an exit offer deemed fair and reasonable by an independent financial adviser.
Boustead Projects said that its parent company, Boustead Singapore , is “exploring various options” .
The parent company held 95.5 per cent of Boustead Projects’ shares when its privatisation offer closed. This resulted in a trading suspension of the latter’s shares, which took effect from Mar 28.
Boustead Singapore had indicated its intention to delist Boustead Projects in February, when it unveiled its offer for the company. However, it was not able to avail itself of the powers of compulsory acquisition under the Companies Act.
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The only way its offer could have led to a delisting of Boustead Projects was if the offer was deemed fair and reasonable, and if Boustead Singapore had obtained at least 75 per cent of the shares held by independent shareholders.
Boustead Projects’ appointed independent financial adviser found that the offer was “not fair but reasonable”.
Boustead Singapore made the acquisition offer at S$0.90 per share and subsequently raised it to S$0.95. However, it drew flak from the Securities Investors Association (Singapore) for being too low.
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