Some Singapore developers are rethinking their listings on the local bourse (Getty Images)
A privatisation wave continues to play out in Singapore’s property development sector, with Fragrance Group founder James Koh launching a buyout bid for another SGX-listed builder he controls, Global Dragon.
The offer of S$0.12 in cash for each Global Dragon share comes less than two years after the billionaire tycoon, also known as Koh Wee Meng, took Fragrance private in a deal valuing the group at S$927 million ($685.6 million).
Koh’s wholly owned JK Global Wealth vehicle announced the offer for Global Dragon in a Friday filing with the Singapore Exchange, with DBS acting as financial advisor. JK and its concert parties — including Koh’s sister Ko Lee Meng and mother Tan Su Lan — currently hold an 81.98 percent stake in Global Dragon, whose projects include seven residential developments and an under-construction hotel on Telok Blangah Road.
The offer price for Global Dragon, valuing the company at more than S$81.8 million, represents a 14.3 percent premium to the most recent closing price on 7 February (before trade was halted) and a 17.6 percent premium to both the six-month and 12-month volume-weighted average price. The price implies a multiple to net asset value of 0.99 times, or 52.3 percent higher than the company’s three-year historical average of 0.65 times.
Business as Usual
Koh intends for Global Dragon to continue with its existing activities and has no plans to introduce any major changes to the business, according to Friday’s announcement.
Fragrance Group founder James Koh
Since his buyout of Fragrance Group, which got its start operating hotels in Singapore’s red-light district, Koh has stayed busy with a string of property acquisitions at home and overseas.
Last April, Koh won a tender for the en bloc sale of Verdun House in the Farrer Park area with a bid of S$55.1 million ($40 million). The deal followed Koh’s late-2021 purchase of two decades-old bungalows with redevelopment potential on Hillside Drive and Lornie Road, according to a report by EdgeProp.
In December 2021, Fragrance bought the 906-room Holiday Inn London Kensington Forum in west London from British real estate fund manager Queensgate Investments for an undisclosed sum.
Buyout Barrage
In other property firm buyout news, SGX-listed investment group Boustead Singapore last week proposed taking its real estate and construction division Boustead Projects private in an offer valuing the company at S$281.9 million ($212.5 million).
Boustead Singapore is offering S$0.90 per share in cash to acquire the equity it does not already own in Boustead Projects with a goal of delisting the subsidiary from the exchange to focus on rebuilding and streamlining its operations.
Meanwhile, mainland money managers Celine and Gordon Tang have been struggling to close a S$588 million deal to buy out developer Chip Eng Seng. Having already sweetened their offer for the builder to S$0.75 per share, the Tangs’ investment firm, Tang Dynasty Treasure, has twice extended the original 5 January closing date for the privatisation, with the latest deadline set for this Thursday.
Last September, Frasers Property’s proposal to privatise Frasers Hospitality Trust at S$0.70 per share failed to attract enough acceptances to clear the 75 percent threshold after valuing the REIT at S$1.35 billion.
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