Singapore banker buys more UIC stake, Salim says sale still on
Singapore banker buys more UIC stake, Salim says sale still on
SINGAPORE (Reuters): Singapore banker Wee Cho Yaw continued to mop up more United Industrial Corp. shares even as Indonesia's Salim group said on Tuesday it was on course to sell its stake to Hong Kong's HKR International.
In shareholding declarations filed with the Stock Exchange of Singapore, United Overseas Bank, headed by Wee, said it bought 446,000 UIC shares at S$0.8989 apiece on March 22.
The shares were bought through Tye Hua Nominees which now holds 77.13 million shares or 5.71 percent, up from 5.67 percent previously. On Monday, Tye Hua said it bought 1.97 million UIC shares.
Analysts said it was not clear what Wee's current stake in UIC was, but it did seem to set him up for possible battle with the new incoming major Hong Kong shareholder.
A UOB official said she could not comment on Wee's current stake in UIC.
Tan Kong King, Managing Director of KMP Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based unit of Indonesia's Salim empire, told Reuters in a telephone interview he did not know how much Wee held of UIC through his various companies but guessed that it "could be very close" to Salim's 23 percent stake.
Asked to comment on Wee's move to buy more shares, Tan said he could not speculate on Wee's intentions.
"I think the market is too sensitive to such news. Personally, I think it is not that significant as he has been buying since last year," Tan said.
He also dispelled concerns that the UIC sale might face hitches after the company failed to meet profit targets, set as conditions of sale by HKR.
"As far as we are concerned, the deal is on and we are making preparations to complete the sale on March 31," Tan said.
Tan said he had been in daily contact with HKR officials since the UIC results and they had not indicated in any way that the deal was off.
"They are taking all the necessary steps needed for the deal to be completed on time. Actions speak louder than words, I think it is correct to say everything is proceeding as usual," he said.
Tan said HKR was conducting its own due diligence and carrying out independent investigations on UIC.
A HKR official in Hong Kong said the company would not comment until due diligence had been completed.
Two weeks ago, Salim said it had reached a conditional agreement to sell its 23 percent UIC stake to Hong Kong's HKR International for S$1 a share or S$310.9 million.
Two conditions imposed on the sale was that UIC's net profit after extraordinaries and net tangible asset would not fall by more than 35 percent from 1997 levels.
One of the conditions was breached last week when UIC announced that its net profit after extraordinaries fell 44 percent to S$34.41 million.
In addition, the Hong Kong party was making arrangements to transfer funds as well as preparing for the movement of the shares, he said.
On whether the price might be changed following UIC's results, Tan said "no way".