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.

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"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.