Yangzijiang Shipbuilding looks to list investment arm on Singapore mainboard

MAINBOARD-LISTED Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) BS6 plans to spin off its investment segment in a listing on the Singapore Exchange mainboard, the board said in an update on Tuesday (Dec 7).

If the spin-off and listing are successful, the plan is for Yangzijiang shareholders to get shares of the spin-off group proportionally, through dividend in specie.

The company had announced on Nov 29 that the group was looking into transferring investments to a spin-off group that would focus on asset management and direct investments.

The move to have 2 separate listed companies would pave the way for Yangzijiang to "pursue more targeted business strategies and accelerate growth", the board said at the time.

Yangzijiang has named CLSA Singapore the issue manager for the planned spin-off and listing; CLSA has appointed Rajah & Tann Singapore and King & Wood Mallesons as its legal advisers.

Meanwhile, Yangzijiang also appointed iCapital Holdings (SG) as its adviser to the restructuring, PricewaterhouseCoopers Shanghai as its tax consultant, Shook Lin & Bok as its legal adviser for Singapore law, and Jingtian & Gongcheng as its legal adviser for Chinese law.

The board said that Yangzijiang will announce material developments "as and when appropriate", and added that there is no guarantee that the proposed spin-off and listing will be undertaken, or that approvals needed will be obtained.

The counter added S$0.03 or 2.33 per cent to close at S$1.32 on Tuesday, before the latest announcement, with nearly 21.2 million shares changing hands.