Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and Singaporean conglomerate Keppel Corporation, which last month secured majority control of Singapore’s smallest telco M1 Limited (M1) through their joint venture vehicle Konnectivity, confirmed via a Singapore Exchange filing dated 27 February that they now own 90.15% of M1’s shares. Having crossed a key threshold – ‘Strong support for the offer by shareholders has resulted in M1 ceasing to have at least 10% of the total number of shares held by the public,’ said Keppel and SPH in the filing – the telco will now be delisted after the close of the voluntary general offer.
As previously reported by CommsUpdate, last month Konnectivity secured majority control of city-state fixed and mobile operator M1, with the announcement that Axiata Group (via wholly owned subsidiary Axiata Investments [Singapore]) had accepted a voluntary conditional general cash offer for the group’s entire 28.6% stake in M1 for MYR1.65 billion (USD404.5 million). In a press release, SPH confirmed that Konnectivity had received ‘valid acceptances that result in it and its concert parties holding 75.5% of the maximum potential issued share capital of M1’. Axiata’s decision to walk away from M1 ends a relationship that began back in 2005, since when the investment has yielded healthy dividends of 7% over the years, and comes at a time when the industry faces short-term challenges in the shape of upcoming new entrant TPG.