UMS Holdings sticks to S$0.20-a-share price for JEP despite error in first offer document

MAINBOARD-LISTED precision engineering firm UMS Holdings has reaffirmed its offer price for Catalist-listed JEP Holdings, despite a boo-boo in the original offer document.

UOB Kay Hian (UOBKH), acting on behalf of UMS, said in a Wednesday update that the April 21 announcement should have listed the offeror's dealings for the six months before the offer - and not just three months, as initially stated.

But the correction, which UOBKH attributed to "an inadvertent error", will not change the offer price of S$0.20 a share in cash, in the mandatory unconditional cash offer. That amount remains the highest price in UMS' dealings during the six-month window, the offeror confirmed.

UMS had triggered a mandatory offer for shares in JEP in April, after a stake purchase from JEP executive director Zee Hoong Huay took its cumulative interest in the machining and engineering service provider to 53.8 per cent.

The deal values JEP at some S$82.4 million altogether, more than in UMS' failed S$0.15-a-share takeover bid in 2019.

The views of JEP's independent directors and independent financial adviser W Capital Markets on the latest offer will be shared with shareholders in a circular in two weeks - that is, by May 19.

"Shareholders should consider their advice before taking any action in relation to the offer," the offeror said, as it despatched the latest material.

UMS shares shed S$0.04, or 2.9 per cent, to S$1.35 at Wednesday's close, before the news. JEP ended flat at S$0.199.