Chip Eng Seng holds a one-fifth interest in the 8 Shenton Way redevelopment project (Image: SOM)
Celine and Gordon Tang have sweetened their take-private bid for Chip Eng Seng, the Singapore-listed builder controlled by the mainland power couple, by upping their all-cash offer by three cents to S$0.75 per share.
The new buyout price, which values the 60-year-old company at more than S$588 million ($433.5 million), represents the final offer to be made by the Tangs’ investment firm, Tang Dynasty Treasure, barring a competitive situation in the future, according to a Monday filing with the Singapore Exchange.
The Tangs on 25 November had announced an offer to acquire all the remaining shares they do not already own in Chip Eng Seng at $0.72 each in a deal valuing the developer at around S$565 million. The final offer price of S$0.75 amounts to a 4.2 percent premium to the original bid and a 42.6 percent markup to the 12-month average share price of S$0.53.
“The offeror is of the view that the final offer consideration reinforces the attractive exit opportunity for shareholders, to realise their entire investment in cash at a compelling premium over historical traded prices,” financial advisor United Overseas Bank said in the filing.
Consolidated Control
Chip Eng Seng’s delisting would be the second privatisation effected by the Tangs in the past year after the billionaire couple took full control of local builder SingHaiyi Group in January through a S$493 million deal.
Chip Eng Seng chairman Celine Tang
The SingHaiyi buyout came to fruition after Neil Bush — a longtime Tang partner and the younger brother of former US President George W Bush — agreed to sell his 5.22 percent interest in the firm for S$25.74 million.
The Tangs pointed to the gloomy investment climate in deciding to privatise Chip Eng Seng, a Singapore firm that started as a subcontractor in the 1960s and has since grown to be a regional developer with commercial, hospitality and residential assets across its home country, Australia and New Zealand.
“On the back of the macro headwinds, the offeror believes that this offer will provide the offeror with greater control to manage the overall business, optimise and streamline the resources to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness,” a November disclosure read.
Mystery Duo Making Mark
The Tangs, whose background before becoming prominent investors in Singapore has never been publicly documented, have been making a splash in the Lion City’s property market through acquisitions such as their purchase of a stake in the S$1.7 billion redevelopment project at 8 Shenton Way in April.
The venture brings together local developer Perennial Holdings, mainland tech giant Alibaba and others in building the next tallest tower in the city-state, with Chip Eng Seng playing a leading role in that investment.
Gordon Tang
In July, Chip Eng Seng’s CEL Development subsidiary, together with SingHaiyi and Haiyi Holdings, teamed up with local developers KSH Holdings and Ho Lee Group to buy the Park View Mansions complex in Jurong East via an en bloc sale worth S$260 million. The group plans to develop a 440-unit residential complex on the site.
In December 2021, Chip Eng Seng, SingHaiyi and Haiyi Group joined forces to purchase the Peace Mansion mixed-use project in District 9 for S$650 million, with plans to convert that ageing complex into a combined commercial and residential development.
In the middle of last year, SingHaiyi and Chip Eng Seng, alongside Hong Kong affiliate Chuan Holdings, won the Maxwell House site in Singapore’s Tanjong Pagar area for S$276.8 million, with the JV planning to build a 13-storey commercial development.
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