Koufu founders, a husband-wife duo, make an offer of 77 cents per share in cash to privatise company

SINGAPORE - Koufu Group's founding shareholders are proposing to privatise the company at 77 cents per share in cash through a voluntary conditional offer that values the foodcourt operator at $425.8 million.

The offeror — Dominus Capital — is an investment company incorporated on Oct 7 by Koufu executive chairman and chief executive Pang Lim and executive director Ng Hoon Tien, the group said in a bourse filing on Wednesday (Dec 29).

The husband-wife duo have a deemed interest in 77.41 per cent of Koufu's shares through Jun Yuan Holdings, which has given an irrevocable undertaking to accept the offer. As at Wednesday, there were about 553 million issued Koufu shares.

The 77 cents offer price represents a premium of 15.8 per cent over Koufu's last traded price per share of 66.5 cents on Dec 28, the last market day before the offer was announced.

It also represents a premium of 14.4 per cent, 13.6 per cent, 15.1 per cent and 15.3 per cent, respectively, over the volume-weighted average price per share for the one-month, three-month, six-month and 12-month periods up to and including Dec 28.

Delisting Koufu from the Singapore Exchange's (SGX) mainboard will give the offeror and the company greater control and management flexibility in deploying available resources and facilitating any strategic initiatives or operational changes.

Shareholders will also have a clean cash exit opportunity to realise their investment, Koufu said, adding that its trading volume has been "generally low".

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Koufu called for a trading halt on Wednesday morning prior to the announcement. Its shares closed at 66.5 cents on Tuesday, down one cent or 1.5 per cent.

The SGX has seen a flurry of privatisation offers this year —  at a rate of more than one a month — in what market watchers say is part of a global trend as the Covid-19 pandemic weighs on share prices.

Most recently, billionaire couple Gordon Tang and his wife Celine will be taking property developer SingHaiyi Group private, having received enough valid acceptances earlier this month. The deal values the company at $492.8 million.

Property and hospitality group Roxy-Pacific, meanwhile, received an offer in December to privatise the company from a consortium including its chairman and chief executive Teo Hong Lim. The buyout, valuing the company at $630.5 million, was first proposed in September.

Earlier this year, property giant CapitaLand privatised its development operations under CapitaLand Development, while listing its fund-management and property-investment business.

Still ongoing is the battle for Singapore Press Holdings, shorn of its media business, with Cuscaden Peak, led by property tycoon Ong Beng Seng, looking in pole position to win over Keppel Corporation with a $3.9 billion bid.

With additional information from The Straits Times