SINGAPORE (Sept 25): It seems that most minority investors in United Engineers have decided that they are better off hanging on to their shares instead of taking up an offer led by Yanlord Land and Perennial Real Estate Holdings to purchase them at $2.60 each. This came as Oxley Holdings amassed a major stake in UEL, pushing the target company’s stock price above the offer price. The offer, made on Aug 1 and extended until Sept 19, garnered acceptances amounting to just 1.36% of UEL’s outstanding shares.

The big question now is what the major shareholders of UEL will do to realise its value and how quickly those returns will be delivered to minority investors. The bulk of UEL’s value lies in its property assets, but it also has manufacturing, distribution and engineering businesses. Among the property assets in its fold is an uncompleted mixed-development project in Shenyang, called the Shenyang Orchard Summer Palace, which had an appraised value of RMB2,162 million ($442.1 million).

UEL also owns Chengdu Orchard Villa, valued at RMB728.7 million. These properties are being developed by its 67%-owned subsidiary WBL Corp. UEL owns five investment properties in Singapore. The flagship asset is the landmark UE Square. The other properties are 79 Anson Road, Park Avenue Rochester, Rochester Mall & Park Avenue Rochester Hotel, and freehold properties at 50 and 52 Alexandra Road. These investment assets were valued at $1.89 billion in UEL’s books as at June 30. All in, UEL owned property assets valued at $2.546 billion as at June 30. Its net asset value (NAV) stood at $3.02 a share. Its net tangible assets stood at $3.01 a share.

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