The issue for investors of both companies was about capital, valuations and outlook. GEH’s minority shareholders campaigned to raise awareness about GEH’s total shareholders’ value and the lack of liquidity that caused it to trade at a discount to peers.
On May 10, the inevitable happened. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) announced plans to acquire the shares in Great Eastern Holdings (SGX:G07
) (GEH) that it does not already own for $25.60 per share, valuing the transaction at $1.4 billion. This is the third offer OCBC has tabled for GEH, the first being in 2004.
The issue was not whether the privatisation was prompted by an increasingly vocal group of minority shareholders; the latest IFRS 17 accounting standard or the 20th anniversary of OCBC turning GEH into a subsidiary.
