SINGAPORE (Oct 5): Institutional investors are buying shares of M1 at levels above the offer price from major owners Keppel Corp and Singapore Press Holdings, showing they are  betting on an increase in the bid.

The Keppel-SPH offer is at $2.06, and M1 is currently at $2.10 as at 11.39am.

After Thursday’s closing bell, M1 announced BlackRock -- the world's biggest money manager and owner of some 5% of Keppel -- had nearly doubled its M1 stake to nearly 1% amid buying shares in the $2.10 area. Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse had also done the same, lifting its stake to 0.6%.