Minority shareholders should hold out against Lian Beng’s lowball offer

Tay Peck Gek

Published Wed, Apr 19, 2023 · 05:50 AM

CONSTRUCTION and engineering company Lian Beng Group : L03 0% is trying its luck with a lowball privatisation offer for the company. Minority shareholders should stand their ground, as they may hold a trump card.

The Ong family behind Lian Beng wants to take it private at S$0.62 a share. This is a mere 40.3 per cent of Lian Beng’s net asset value (NAV), which stood at about S$1.54 per share as at end-November.

Worse still, the price might be lowered further by any dividend or return of capital Lian Beng declares, makes or pays from now. Lian Beng’s financial year ends in May. In the last financial year, it paid a final dividend of S$0.02 per share.

The Ong family may believe it will be able to push the offer through in spite of the low price. They are making the offer through a company called OSC Capital, and members of the Ong family, who own nearly 69.6 per cent …