A consortium of three property companies, including two linked to Temasek, has submitted a competing S$3.4bn (€2.2bn) bid for the real estate business of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH).
The Cuscaden Peak consortium is made up of Temasek-linked entities CLA Real Estate and Mapletree, and Tiga Stars, a subsidiary of Hotel Properties Limited (HPL).
Cuscaden Peak has offered S$2.10 per share in cash, topping an earlier bid from Keppel Corp, which in August offered S$2.099 per SPH security in cash and shares in Keppel.
The new offer for SHP is conditional, among other things, on completion of the company’s demerger of its media business, which was approved by shareholders last month.
SPH has a market capitalisation of S$3.16bn. It holds stakes in a number of shopping centres in Singapore and Australia, and owns student accommodation in the UK and Germany, as well as a private nursing home in Singapore.
Cucaden Peak is 40% held by HPL, a Singapore-based hotel group led by a billionaire hotelier Ong Beng Seng, 30% by Temasek unit CLA Real Estate Holdings and 30% by the Mapletree, which is also owned by Temasek.
Separately, Keppel, which also counts Temasek Holdings as a major shareholder, said it would review Cuscaden Peak’s all-cash offer and make an announcement at an appropriate time.
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