Keppel sticks to final $2.8 bln bid for Singapore Press despite superior offer

Hotel Properties

16/11/2021 24:24

Nov 16 (Reuters) - Keppel Corp  KPLM.SI  maintained on
Tuesday its revised offer of S$2.351 per share to buy Singapore
Press Holdings  SPRM.SI , excluding its media business, a day
after Cuscaden Peak swooped in with a superior bid for the media
and real estate firm.
    Cuscaden Peak - a consortium of billionaire property tycoon
Ong Beng Seng's Hotel Properties  HPPS.SI  and two independently
managed portfolio companies of Singapore state investor Temasek
Holdings - hiked its cash-plus-stock offer on Monday by around
14% to S$2.40 per share.   urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2S50O1    
    The hike in Cuscaden Peak's offer came on the heels of a
sweetened "final" bid by conglomerate Keppel last week https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/conglomerate-keppel-sweetens-offer-singapore-press-28-bln-2021-11-09/#:~:text=Nov%2010%20(Reuters)%20-%20Conglomerate,to%20state%20investor%20Temasek%20Holdings
 that valued Singapore Press at $2.8 billion.
    "We will continue to maintain price discipline, and will not
go beyond the proposed acquisition's intrinsic value to Keppel,"
the conglomerate said in a statement https://links.sgx.com/FileOpen/MREL_KCL%20comments%20following%20the%20signing%20of%20the%20Implementation%20Agreement%20between%20SPH%20and%20Cuscaden%20Peak.ashx?App=Announcement&FileID=690987
 on Tuesday.
    "We believe that Keppel's final offer is a compelling one
and a win-win proposition."       
    Both groups are battling for Singapore Press' global
portfolio of property assets, student accommodation and elderly
care homes.

 (Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry
Jacob-Phillips)
 ((Sameer.Manekar@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sameer_manekar))