Activist investor Quarz Capital Asia has sold more than half its share holdings in Sunningdale Tech as the company nears privatisation by its chairman Koh Boon Hwee and Novo Tellus chairman Loke Wai San.
The fund sold over 7.4 million shares in the company on Feb 23 at $1.64 per share, leaving it with just over 5.98 million shares.
Before this, Quartz was a substantial shareholder of Sunningdale, owning at one point a high of about 15.95 million shares, or 8.284%, as at Jan 19.
Jan 19 was also the day that Sunningdale shareholders voted to allow Koh and Loke to acquire the company via offeror Sunrise Technology, at an offer price of $1.65 per share or 1,650 shares in Sunrise.
SEE:Sunningdale Tech needs to pivot fast; additional capex required: Koh Boon Hwee
The fund then started to pare down its holdings in the company from Jan 21, selling steadily - barring one buy transaction of 1,000 shares - to 15.15 million shares as at Feb 18.
On Feb 22, Quarz then sold about 1.73 million shares before ceasing to be a substantial shareholder in Sunningdale as of Feb 23.
Before the shareholders' vote, Quarz had written an open letter on Jan 14 when the Sunningdale offer stood at $1.55 and 1,550 Sunrise shares.
They questioned whether the offer was a “lowball” by Koh and Loke and threw light on the redesignation of Loke from independent director to non-independent director after the offer was made in November 2020. The offer was then improved to $1.65.
Read more on the Sunningdale privatisation here:
Koh Boon Hwee succeeds in Sunningdale privatisation offer, shares to stop trading on Mar 8
Sunningdale Tech needs to pivot fast; additional capex required: Koh Boon Hwee
