Kotjo to sell stake in S'pore's ABR

Kotjo to sell stake in S'pore's ABR

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Four Singapore-based businessmen have agreed on an option to buy the controlling stake in food company ABR Holdings now held by Indonesian tycoon Johanes Kotjo, Schroders International Merchant Bankers said.

Schroders said in a statement, received by Reuters on Tuesday, that Ang Yee Lim, Foo Jong Long, Ricky Goh Hoon Kan and William Tan Leong Ko agreed to pay S$1.35 each for 17.8 million shares in ABR, or about 40 percent of the company.

The shares would be bought in two tranches from investment vehicles in which Kotjo held an interest: 11.66 million ABR shares from Regent Universal Investments and 6.14 million shares from Loisir Investments.

The purchase would be made through Sullivan Developments and Goldhurst Properties, both of which are incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.

The statement said the deal depended on approvals from certain parties and would lapse if the options were not exercised within three months.

If the options were exercised, the buyers would make a general takeover offer for the remaining ABR shares they did not own at S$1.35 or the highest price paid by them in the 12 months preceding the offer.

News of the takeover option triggered a sharp rise in ABR's share price on Tuesday morning. The stock was last 9 percent higher at S$1.45 with 4.7 million shares traded.