TWO GREAT EASTERN DIRECTORS REJECT PRIVATISATION MOVE

Two senior executives at Singapore-based assurer Great Eastern Holdings have rejected a proposal by significant stakeholder Oversea Banking Corporation (OCBC) to take Great Eastern private. Chairman Michael Wong Pakshong, CEO Tan Beng Lee and two other independent directors said that they had taken note of the views of their adviser Morgan Stanley, which concluded that the offer by OCBC to increase its stake from 66% to 100% was “adequate, but not compelling”. In February OCBC offered 976 OCBC shares for every 1,000 Great Eastern Shares. Morgan Stanley said that the premium offered to minority shareholders was “significantly below that which we would normally expect when an offeror is intending to privatise or increase its controlling stake”. Morgan Stanley suggested that shareholders looking to exit might be better off selling their shares on the open market. OCBC has said that, if shareholders turn down the offer, then they will mop up shares on the open market at a later date, probably at a lower price than the existing offer, which currently values Great Eastern at S$11.60 a share.