China's Yanlord Land, Perennial to acquire Singapore property group for $1.3 bln

Great Eastern Holdings

13/07/2017 13:17

SINGAPORE, July 13 (Reuters) - Singapore's Oversea-Chinese 
Banking Corporation (OCBC)  OCBC.SI  and its insurance arm are 
selling their stakes in property firm United Engineers  UTES.SI  
and a subsidiary to a group led by China's Yanlord Land Group 
 YLNG.SI  and Perennial Real Estate Holdings  PERE.SI . 
    The deal, which was announced by the companies late on 
Thursday, values the two targets at roughly S$1.83 billion ($1.3 
billion) in one of the biggest property takeover deals in the 
city state in recent years. 
    "As a key global financial centre, Singapore's real estate 
market continues to present a good value proposition for 
developers such as ourselves seeking to develop stable and 
recurring revenue streams," Zhong Sheng Jian, Chairman and CEO 
of Yanlord said in a joint statement with Perennial. 
    Yanlord, Perennial and other investors are buying out OCBC 
and its group companies' roughly one-third stake in United 
Engineers at S$2.6 per United Engineers' share, which will 
trigger a mandatory offer for the remaining shares. 
    The consortium is also buying out OCBC and its group firms' 
29.9 percent stakes in property firm WBL Corp, a closely-held 
subsidiary of United Engineers. 
    United Engineers has property businesses, mainly in 
Singapore and China. Yanlord and Perennial also mainly own and 
manage sizeable portfolios in the same countries. 
    Credit Suisse is advising OCBC and its group firms on the 
strategic review of their stakes in United Engineers. United 
Overseas Bank is the financial adviser to the consortium. 
    An earlier attempt by OCBC and its group firms to sell their 
stakes in United Engineers had failed in 2014. 
($1 = 1.3773 Singapore dollars) 
 
 (Reporting by Anshuman Daga and Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by 
Greg Mahlich) 
 ((anshuman.daga@tr.com; +65 64035676; Reuters Messaging: 
anshuman.daga.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: UNITED ENG M&A/