Property developer OUE has clarified that no definitive agreement has been reached on the purchase of UEL shares. (Photo: Nicolas Lannuzel, Flickr.com)
Singapore property developer OUE Ltd, backed by the billionaire Riady family, has clarified that while it has been approached for the purchase of shares in United Engineers Ltd. (UEL), there is no assurance of a binding agreement.
In an SGX filing, the OUE revealed that “there are no ongoing discussions and there is no assurance whatsoever that any definitive or binding agreement for the purchase of shares of UEL by the company will be reached”.
The statement was made in response to a Bloomberg report which stated that OUE was interested in bidding for shares held by Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, the second-biggest lender in Singapore, and its affiliates.
In September, OCBC and its insurance arm Great Eastern Holdings said they were looking at options for their combined stakes in UEL, which has a market value of US$1.2 billion.
According to Thomson Reuters, Great Eastern, OCBC and the affiliated Lee Foundation own a 30.6 percent stake in UEL. Under the rules, acquiring such a stake could trigger a mandatory takeover offer for UEL.
Meanwhile, OUE said it will make an announcement if a definitive agreement to purchase the shares of UEL has been reached.
As such, it advises shareholders to refrain from taking any action in respect to their shares in the company which may be prejudicial to their interests, and to exercise caution when dealing in the shares of the company.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
