Sias organising representation for Jardine Strategic shareholders in Bermuda court

THE Securities Investors Association (Singapore), or Sias, is arranging for individual shareholders of Jardine Strategic Holdings who are against the acquisition by Jardine Matheson Holdings to connect with institutional shareholders to be collectively represented by Bermuda lawyers.

However, this will be subject to collectively obtaining at least 300,000 shares or US$10 million in value from such individual dissenting shareholders, said Sias in a statement on Thursday.

Justin Tang, head of Asian research at United First Partners, confirmed to The Business Times that he was the one who initiated the contact with Sias, so that dissenting individual shareholders would join his clients who hold at least US$500 million worth of Jardine Strategic shares to start the legal proceedings.

He commented: “It’s in everyone’s best interest to band together.”

Further, he estimated it would cost US$1 million to US$2 million in total legal fees, which could be shared by all dissenting shareholders to make it more affordable.

The lawyers will provide direct representation for each individual shareholder as a client. However, to help defray the costs, they will charge only a pro-rata cost based on shareholding. Shareholders will need to discuss the fees directly with the lawyers.

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Should Jardine Strategic's fair value after appraisal by the Bermuda court be greater than the acquisition price of US$33 per share, Jardine Matheson is to pay dissenting Jardine Strategic shareholders the difference between the appraised value and the acquisition price within a month of the court's decision, Sias noted.

However, should the court value it to be equal or lower than the acquisition price, the dissenting Jardine Strategic shareholders will be entitled only to the acquisition price.

Dissenters can register on this platform by 5pm on March 30.  

Sias stated that dissenting shareholders need to convert their shares from The Central Depository (CDP) into certificated form before they are able to enforce their legal rights to bring the matter to Bermuda, whose laws apply to this acquisition.

According to the timetable, a depositor who wishes to exercise his dissenting rights should submit a request for withdrawal of securities to the CDP by 5pm on March 30.

The counter rose 1.06 per cent to US$33.30 on Thursday.