Synergies in Keppel's SPH buyout win analysts' favour

IT appears Keppel Corp can do little wrong these days.

In what has turned out to be an event-loaded year for the diversified firm, Keppel has once again won the favour of analysts, this time with its proposed S$2.24 billion privatisation bid of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) - sans the media business - that was disclosed on Monday morning.

CGS-CIMB Securities analyst Lim Siew Khee favoured the deal given the visible synergies for Keppel and that given its larger size, it is able to expedite monetising the selected assets in SPH's "quality portfolio" in an easier fashion.