Isetan’s rich exit offer is a shining example of how to treat shareholders fairly in a privatisation

AMID a recent spate of lowball privatisation offers in the Singapore market, Japan-listed Isetan Mitsukoshi’s privatisation offer last week for its subsidiary – department store Isetan Singapore – comes as a breath of fresh air.

Its offer price of S$7.20 for each of Isetan Singapore’s shares that it does not already own far surpasses all major benchmark values considered in an exit offer, such as a company’s book value and last-traded price.

The offer price is 178.9 per cent above Isetan’s net asset value (NAV) per share of S$2.58.