SMRT won't exercise option to subscribe for shares in OMG

SMRT Corporation on Friday announced that it would not proceed to exercise the option granted to the company to subscribe for shares in OMG, a subsidiary of local tech company Consistel that is vying with MyRepublic to be the fourth telco in Singapore.

Said SMRT in a statement: "The company has reviewed its capital allocation priorities and decided at this time not to take a passive interest in any investment, which would have been the case in the venture with OMG."

Instead, SMRT will continue to place its investment focus on business areas such as in rail engineering in which it has an active interest, the company said.

SMRT in April entered into an agreement to work exclusively with OMG on the latter's bid for the fourth telco licence in Singapore. SMRT was then offered an opportunity to invest up to S$34.5 million via an option to subscribe for shares in OMG. The exercise of the option is subject to, among other things, the obtaining of the telco licence by OMG, satisfactory due diligence on OMG, and the execution of definitive agreements between SMRT and OMG.