Yanlord makes fresh bid for Singapore's United Engineers, values it at $1.2 bln

Yanlord Land

25/10/2019 04:26

Oct 25 (Reuters) - China-based property developer Yanlord
Land Group  YNLG.SI  is making a second attempt to take over
Singapore's United Engineers Ltd  UTES.SI , in a deal that
values the real estate firm at S$1.66 billion ($1.2 billion).
    It plans to pay cash for the shares it does not own at S$2.6
per share - a mandatory offer triggered after one of its units
bought United Engineers stock owned by Perennial UW and Heng Yue
Holdings.
    Yanlord now owns 35.27% of United Engineers.
    The S$2.6 per share price is the same price offered in a bid
made a little over two years ago by Yanlord and Perennial Real
Estate Holdings  PERE.SI  - a deal that failed after the
consortium only gained shareholder acceptances representing just
1.4% of United Engineers' ordinary shares https://www.reuters.com/article/united-eng-ma/update-1-yanlord-perennials-offer-for-singapores-united-engineers-fails-idUSL4N1M103S.
    The offer price also represents a 2.3% discount to United
Engineers last closing price of S$2.66 on Tuesday when the
Singapore firm requested a trading halt. The shares were trading
at S$2.61 on Friday. 
    There are no plans to delist United Engineers, Yanlord said.
    Yanlord is seeking to have at least 50% of United Engineers'
voting rights for the offer to succeed. If the offer fails,
Yanlord will not be able to make another offer for 12 months.
    DBS Bank is the financial adviser on the offer.
($1 = 1.3639 Singapore dollars)

 (Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan in Bengaluru; Editing by
Edwina Gibbs)
 ((NikhilKurian.Nainan@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter:
@NikhilKurianN; +91 806 749 1637;))