Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC) has announced its intention to acquire the remaining shares of Great Eastern Holdings Limited (GEH) that it does not already own. This follows an 11-month trading suspension of GEH shares and supports its proposal to delist voluntarily from the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
The bank is offering S$30.15 per share for the remaining 6.28% of GEH shares, which adds up to a total of S$0.9 billion.
GEH shares have been stuck since July 2024 because too few of them were held by the public, less than the 10% required by SGX rules.
An independent adviser, Ernst & Young, has reviewed the offer and said the price is fair and reasonable.
To move forward, the delisting needs to be approved by GEH’s minority shareholders, those who still own the remaining shares. At least 75% of the votes must support the plan during a special shareholder meeting and OCBC is not allowed to vote on this.
If the vote passes, GEH will be officially removed from the stock exchange. Shareholders who accept the offer will be paid S$30.15 per share. Those who don’t accept will still own shares in GEH, but the company will no longer be listed or traded publicly.
If shareholders reject the delisting plan, the offer will be cancelled. In that case, GEH has another proposal,it will issue bonus shares for free to bring the public shareholding back up and resume trading.
Shareholders can either choose to receive regular voting shares (which will be listed) or special non-voting shares (which won’t be listed but will still earn dividends).
OCBC said it would choose the non-voting shares to help reduce its voting power, allowing GEH to meet the minimum public shareholding again.
This would bring OCBC’s voting stake down to about 88.19%, but it would still keep 93.72% of the rights to GEH’s profits and dividends.
OCBC’s Group CEO, Helen Wong, said that while OCBC has always planned to take GEH private, this offer is meant to give shareholders a way to exit after almost a year of being unable to trade.
She added that the price offered is fair and allows OCBC to move forward with its long-term goal of building a stronger financial group in the region.
OCBC also made it clear that this is their final offer and they don’t plan to make another one in the future.
The shareholder meeting will be available on the Singapore Exchange website starting 9 June 2025. If shareholders approve the delisting, the offer will stay open for another 14 days.
Shahriena Shukri is a journalist covering business and economic news in Malaysia, providing insights on market trends, corporate developments, and financial policies. More about Shahriena Shukri.
