GEH, OCBC’s proposals a victory of sorts for minorities who have held out, endured suspension

[SINGAPORE] When Great Eastern Holdings (GEH) and its controlling shareholder OCBC put forward a two-pronged plan last week to resolve the insurer’s trading suspension, I was impressed and rather surprised that a seemingly impossible deal had been struck.

The first part of the plan is for GEH to attempt delisting its shares from the Singapore Exchange, with OCBC providing an exit offer of S$30.15 per share. If the delisting resolution is voted through by GEH’s minority shareholders, OCBC will stump up nearly S$900 million to purchase the 6.28 per cent of the insurer it does not already own.

This is quite a turnabout for OCBC. Last year, it offered to pay S$1.4 billion – or S$25.60 per share – for the 11.56 per cent of GEH it did not own. It refused to raise its offer price even after the independent financial adviser (IFA) appointed by GEH said the deal was “not fair, but reasonable”.