SINGAPORE (June 27): Loo Leong Thye, the founder, executive director and chief executive officer of Challenger Technologies, has failed in his bid to voluntarily delist the consumer electronics retailer.
At an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Thursday, some 11.36% of shareholders voted against the resolution to voluntarily delist the company.
Under current regulations, the resolution must not have been voted against by 10% or more of Challenger’s issued shares held by shareholders present and voting.
To add to the red faces, Challenger erroneously said in a filing to the Singapore Exchange (SGX) at 1.30pm that the resolution was “duly passed” by shareholders of the company.
The company then had to call for another trading halt to clarify its gaffe – some two hours later.
Challenger had in March received a 56 cents per share cash offer from Digileap Capital, a partnership between the Loo Family and Dymon Asia Private Equity.
See: Challenger gets 56 cents delisting offer from founding Loo family and partners
Earlier this month, Digileap said it will not budge from its exit offer price, despite some shareholders bemoaning that it was too low.
Pangolin Investment Management, which holds a 2.94% stake in Challenger through its Pangolin Asia Fund, led the rally for other minority shareholders to reject Digileap’s delisting offer.
See: Challenger founder pushes ahead with delisting plans; says exit offer price of 56 cents per share is 'final'
Pangolin said the offer price, which translates to a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.9 times, is too low and thus unfair to minority shareholders.
In a letter sent to The Edge Singapore, Pangolin called the offer “derisory”.
See: Challenger Tech's 2.94% shareholder says offer price too low, calls for higher dividend payouts
However, Loo revealed in a statement on June 12 that he had received two unsolicited offers from Pangolin over the past two years.
In its first offer in October 2017, Pangolin offered to sell its stake at 43.5 cents per share – below Digileap’s exit offer price. The second offer, received in March 2018, did not state the price at which Pangolin would be willing to sell its shares.
See: New developments in the Challenger delisting saga
With the delisting now rejected by shareholders, the exit offer will lapse. Digileap and its concert parties will not be able to make another offer for the shares for 12 months from the date the exit offer lapses.
Challenger’s failed privatisation deal is the second in as many days by a company on SGX.
Indomie maker Indofood Sukses Makmur on Wednesday found its buyout bid for mainboard-listed Indofood Agri Resources scuppered after missing the required 90% mark by less than 2 percentage points.
The buyout offer of 32.75 cents per share for Indofood Agri was conditional upon Indofood Sukses Makmur holding more than a 90% stake in Indofood Agri at the close of the offer.
But the offer lapsed after Indofood Sukses Makmur managed to pull together a shareholding of just 88.08%.
See: Indofood Agri's share price tumbles as buyout offer lapses – missing the mark by just 2%
Thankfully, Challenger’s share price did not suffer the 11% plunge that Indofood Agri saw following news of the failed buyout bid on Wednesday.
Shares in Challenger closed flat at 54.5 cents on Thursday.
