SHARES of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and Keppel Corp, as well as units of SPH Reit and Keppel Reit, were actively traded in the morning on Thursday (Nov 11), after Keppel said it would raise its privatisation offer for SPH.
SPH and Keppel Reit were among the top traded counters by volume in the morning.
As at 9 am, SPH reached a high of S$2.30, up S$0.14 or 6.5 per cent, with 3 million shares changing hands. Keppel Reit reached a low of S$1.09, down S$0.06 or 5.2 per cent, with 4.1 million units traded.
Meanwhile, Keppel Corp fell to S$5.26 as at 9.18 am, down S$0.05 or 0.9 per cent, with 560,700 shares changing hands. SPH Reit was down S$0.03 or 2.9 per cent at S$0.99 as at 9 am, with 244,500 units traded.
As at 9.43 am, SPH shares eased slightly to S$2.28, up S$0.12 or 5.6 per cent, with 13.6 million shares changing hands. SPH Reit was trading at S$0.995, down S$0.025 or 2.5 per cent, with 3.7 million units traded.
Keppel shares were down S$0.03 or 0.6 per cent at S$5.28, with 996,200 shares changing hands, while Keppel Reit slipped S$0.04 or 3.5 per cent to S$1.11, with 9.7 million units traded.
Late Tuesday night, Keppel announced it would raise its privatisation offer for SPH to S$2.351 per share by beefing up its cash component. The final offer comprises cash of S$0.868 per share, 0.596 Keppel Reit unit (valued at S$0.685 as at Nov 9) and 0.782 SPH Reit unit (valued S$0.798 as at Nov 9) per SPH share.
Keppel said its revised offer price reflects a change of conditions, stemming from an improved financial performance and the overall economic environment since July.
The higher cash consideration, however, is expected to increase Keppel's pro forma net gearing by 0.03 time after the transaction, although the group's pro forma net gearing should remain below 1 time.
SPH, SPH Reit, Keppel and Keppel Reit called for trading halts on Wednesday (Nov 10) morning, for the dissemination of announcements. All 4 counters have since resumed trading.
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