What’s behind CDL’s half-hearted offer to buy back a tenth of its preference shares?

REDEMPTION has finally come for the long-suffering holders of City Developments Ltd (CDL) preference shares. Just not the kind they were hoping for when they subscribed for these pref shares nearly 20 years ago.

Early this month, the mainboard-listed property developer announced that it will buy back up to 33.1 million pref shares, or about 10 per cent of its entire 330.9 million pref shares under a share purchase mandate approved by shareholders in April. Each shareholder is entitled to sell 10 per cent of his holdings under an equal access scheme.

In its offer document, CDL said that this off-market offer – at S$0.78 a share – will allow the company to exercise greater control over its share capital structure. It also noted that the trading volume of these shares has been generally low, with an average daily trading volume of some 18,833 shares, 15,206 shares, 45,912 shares and 29,606 shares during the past one-month, three-month, six-month and 12-month periods respectively.