Keppel sticks to final $3.74b bid for SPH despite superior offer

Keppel Corp maintained on Tuesday (Nov 16) its revised offer of $2.351 per share to buy Singapore Press Holdings, excluding its media business, a day after Cuscaden Peak swooped in with a superior bid for the media and real estate firm.

Cuscaden Peak - a consortium of billionaire property tycoon Ong Beng Seng's Hotel Properties and two independently managed portfolio companies of Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings - hiked its cash-plus-stock offer on Monday by around 14 per cent to $2.40 per share.

The hike in Cuscaden Peak's offer came on the heels of a sweetened "final" bid by conglomerate Keppel last week that valued Singapore Press at $2.8 billion.

"We will continue to maintain price discipline, and will not go beyond the proposed acquisition's intrinsic value to Keppel," the conglomerate said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We believe that Keppel's final offer is a compelling one and a win-win proposition."

Both groups are battling for Singapore Press' global portfolio of property assets, student accommodation and elderly care homes.

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