By Claire Reilly
SYDNEY, NSW: Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (HNL) has today released a joint announcement from its two subsidiaries, Harvey Norman Singapore (HNS) and Pertama Holdings, declaring their intention to delist Pertama from the Singapore Exchange.
As a part of the proposal, which was made to the company board and released yesterday, Harvey Norman Singapore will make an exit offer to share holders in order to buy out remaining shares.
Each share has an exit offer price of S$0.65 per share – to be paid in cash – which represents a 13.04 per cent increase in the last traded price of S$0.5750 (as at 10 June 2011) and an 18.35 per cent increase on the 1-month volume weighted average price of S$0.5492, according to the statement from HNL.
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The offer will be voted on at an Extraordinary General Meeting, which requires the proposal to be approved by no less than 90 per cent of shareholders. If the resolution passes, HNL has announced that it will compulsorily acquire the shares.
The rationale for the exit offer is detailed in the statement released by HNL to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“There is a lack of liquidity in the shares, and the exit offer presents an opportunity for shareholders to realise their investment,” the statement read. In addition, it stated that “Pertama has not conducted any fund-raising exercise since 1 July 2000 and hence has not been able to take advantage of its listed status for fund raising.”
According to the company profile on Harvey Norman Holdings Limited’s website, Pertama is a key retailer of electrical goods in Singapore and Malaysia. HNL owns approximately 40 per cent of the company, “but effectively controls the Asian retail entity due to majority board representation and control over the entity’s financial and operating policies”.