Review of compulsory acquisition requirements underway

WE REFER to the letters, “Takeover loophole disadvantages minority shareholders of TTJ Holdings” by Mano Sabnani published on May 25, “TTJ privatisation offer ‘unfair’” by Patrick Wright published on May 26, and the commentary “Compulsory acquisition loophole back in the spotlight as TTJ minorities get lowball offer” by Ben Paul published on May 30.

We thank the writers for their views and feedback.

As part of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra)’s efforts to ensure Singapore’s corporate laws and regulatory framework stay competitive, Acra has reviewed several areas in the Companies Act, through a Companies Act Working Group, comprising members from local and international law firms, and industry regulators and associations.

One of the areas reviewed included matters relating to the compulsory acquisition framework, and in particular exclusions of the shares of persons and corporations which may influence or control the offeror, from the computation of the 90 per cent threshold which must be obtained before an offeror can exercise the right of compulsorily acquisition.

We will be proposing amendments to the compulsory acquisition framework, with a view to addressing the concerns raised while ensuring that our requirements do not make it onerous for companies to restructure.

Shirley Loo, divisional director, corporate development division, Acra