Sembcorp completes divestment of Chilean water business, exits market

SEMBCORP Industries on Thursday said it has completed the divestment of its entire interests in its water business in Chile for 27.8 billion Chilean pesos (S$53.6 million) in cash.

The water business was divested to Spanish construction and engineering service group Sacyr. 

The net asset value of the assets to be sold was previously reported to be S$107 million. Hence, arising from the divestment, an impairment of S$64 million was booked due to the difference between the sale value and the net asset value of the business.

Following the divestment, Sembcorp has exited the Chilean market, it said in a regulatory update on Thursday.

About S$32 million in currency translation loss has been recognised in the foreign currency translation reserve and is taken to profit and loss. A hedging gain of around S$5 million reduces the net charge to profit and loss to S$27 million.

This resulted in a reduction of 1.51 Singapore cents in earnings per share, Sembcorp said.

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The transaction is not expected to have a material impact on Sembcorp's net asset value per share for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2020, the company said.

Shares of Sembcorp closed flat at S$1.74 on Wednesday.