Stocks to watch: Keppel Corp, Keppel DC Reit, Singapore Exchange, Wheelock Properties

THE following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their shares on Friday:

Keppel Corp and Keppel DC Reit: Keppel Corporation on Thursday evening said its wholly owned subsidiary, DC Reit Holdings, has signed a sale and purchase agreement to sell about 55.1 million units in Keppel DC Reit, representing about a 4.08 per cent stake, for S$74.96 million. The units were sold for at least S$1.36 per unit or any such higher price that UBS as the placement agent was able to procure. Assuming the price of S$1.36 per unit, the group expects to recognise a gain of about S$17 million from the sale, it said.

Singapore Exchange: Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX), the local bourse operator, announced it has increased its investment in wholly owned subsidiary, Asian Gateway Investments (AGI), by S$73.7 million, via the issue and allotment of 73.7 million ordinary shares of S$1 each. Post-injection, the SGX will continue to hold 100 per cent of AGI's entire issued and paid-up share capital. The capital injection is meant for additional working capital, the firm said.

Wheelock Properties: PrimePartners Corporate Finance, the independent financial adviser (IFA) to the recommending directors of Wheelock Properties (Singapore), has clarified its advice on the offer to take the company private as fair and reasonable. In a clarification letter sent late on Thursday, the IFA said that due to "market feedback", it wished to reword a paragraph in its IFA letter "to address any perception of an inconsistency between our opinion and our recommendation to the recommending directors in relation to the offer". The original recommendation sent last week on the financial terms of the offer to take the company private are fair and reasonable, "but not compelling, and are not prejudicial to the interests of minority shareholders". The words in inverted commas have since been removed, but the IFA said the rewording "does not change... the substance of the opinion and recommendation to the recommending directors in relation to the offer".