Top Global minorities need better protection

INVESTORS have been getting some raw deals of late, and it may be time to consider tweaking the rules in order to better protect minority shareholders.

A case in point: On April 30, Sukmawati Widjaja's privately owned SW Investment Holding made an offer of S$0.39 per share for property group Top Global. The offer price represents a discount of nearly 47 per cent to Top Global's net asset value per share as at end-2020.

In an announcement, the offeror had highlighted the offer price's 122.9 per cent premium over Top Global's share price just before Ms Widjaja bought an 8.1 per cent block of shares in March in an off-market transaction at S$0.39 apiece.