Temasek-backed consortium makes $2.5 bln bid for Singapore Press, tops Keppel's offer

Hotel Properties

29/10/2021 04:14

Oct 29 (Reuters) - A Singapore state investor Temasek-backed
consortium of three property developers proposed to buy media
group Singapore Press Holdings  SPRM.SI  for S$3.34 billion
($2.48 billion) on Friday, seeking to out-bid conglomerate
Keppel Corp  KPLM.SI . 
    The consortium Cuscaden Peak offered S$2.1 per share in cash
for Singapore Press, marginally topping Keppel's more
complicated cash-plus-share offer of S$2.099.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nSNZ22SLLr urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2P909A 
    Keppel's offer to buy Singapore Press, which publishes the
city-state's main newspaper, comes after the latter's decision
to transfer its media business - comprising publications
including the Strait Times and the Business Times - into a
not-for-profit company in May.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2P909A
    Trading in shares of the newspaper publisher were halted on
Friday morning and it was yet to respond to a Reuters request
for comment. 
    Keppel said in a statement that it would review the Cuscaden
Peak's all-cash offer and make an announcement at an appropriate
time. 
    Cuscaden Peak is 40% held by a unit of Singapore-based Hotel
Properties  HPPS.SI  Tiga Stars, and 30% each by units of
Adenium and Mapletree Fortress, which are part of Temasek
portfolio companies CLA and Mapletree, respectively.
    
    
($1 = 1.3442 Singapore dollars)

 (Reporting by Tejaswi Marthi in Bengaluru, additional reporting
by Nikhil Kurian Nainan in Bengaluru)
 ((NikhilKurian.Nainan@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter:
@NikhilKurianN))