Great Eastern independent directors advised to recommend OCBC $1 bln offer (updated)

Great Eastern Holdings

14/06/2024 15:10

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      Adviser recommended independent directors back the deal
    

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      Adviser also noted shareholders might want to sell in
market
    

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      Great Eastern shares have been trading above OCBC offer
    

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      OCBC says its offer is final 
    

  
 (Adds more details from OCBC and Great Eastern's announcements)
    By Himanshi Akhand and Yantoultra Ngui
       June 14 (Reuters) - The independent directors of
Singapore's Great Eastern  GELA.SI  have been advised to
recommended that minority shareholders accept a S$1.4 billion
($1.03 billion) offer from the insurer's top investor
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC)  OCBC.SI . 
    Ernst & Young, the financial adviser to the independent
directors, said the terms of the offer were "reasonable" and
advised them to recommend the deal, Great Eastern said in a
statement.  
    Great Eastern did not immediately respond to request seeking
comment from Reuters late Friday after working hours on whether
its independent directors would accept the advice and recommend
minority shareholders to accept the offer.
    OCBC, Singapore's second biggest lender, announced in May an
offer to buy the 11.56% stake in Great Eastern that it does not
own at S$25.60 per share, or a 37% premium over Great Eastern's
last traded shares price before that announcement.
    Ernst & Young noted that Great Eastern shares have been
trading above the offer price and that shareholders might thus
wish to sell their stock in the open market. 
    "This offer price is final," OCBC said on Friday. "The
closing date of the offer is extended to 12 July 2024. OCBC does
not intend to increase the offer price or further extend the
closing date."
    As of Thursday's close, OCBC said it had received
acceptances for 1.74 million shares, or 0.37% of Great Eastern
shares, raising its stake in Great Eastern to 89.01%.    
    Great Eastern shares ended Friday 0.27% lower at S$26.10
prior to the announcements, giving it a market value of around
S$12.35 billion. 
    ($1 = 1.3537 Singapore dollars)

 (Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru and Yantoultra Ngui
in Singapore; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Mark Potter)
 ((Himanshi.Akhand@thomsonreuters.com;))