Despite mass familiarity with Tiger Balm, not much else is known about Har Par, with the company operating without much fanfare, accompanied by muted recognition from the investing community. But this seems to be changing as Macquarie Equity Research initiates coverage of Haw Par.
In its Mar 19 initiation report, Macquarie analysts Jayden Vantarakis and Hanel Tan put forth the case for investing in Har Par, rating the counter “outperform” at a target price of $20.6.
At the heart of their investment thesis is Haw Par’s “treasure chest” of cash generating assets — Tiger Balm line of products, real estate, leisure business and shareholdings in United Overseas Bank and United Overseas Land. In addition, fortifying the long-term sustainability of the company is its “robust” financial position — a net cash position of $790 million that buttresses Haw Par against black swan events.
Treasure 1 — Tiger Balm
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On a segmental basis, Vantarakis and Tan observe that healthcare core operations, spearheaded by Tiger Balm, provide 51-55% of gross profit margin and 18-23% of earnings before interest margin over the last three years. They also note that revenue has been growing “steadily” by 4-7%.
With Asia’s ageing population, the analysts believe regional demand for Har Par’s Tiger Balm products to increase. They also posit that the company’s new plant in Malaysia positions the business for growth and to meet increasing demand while improving operational efficiency.
However, they note that with 86.5% of healthcare revenue coming from exports, this division is exposed to non-Singapore trade policies, currency fluctuations and economic volatility. Competition and geopolitical tensions may also exert downward pressure on the performance of the division.
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Including the real estate and leisure business as part of the core business, Macquarie believes core operations to be worth 16% of the company’s net asset value, with healthcare valued at 16 times estimated FY2027 earnings per share and real estate at book value.
Treasure 2 — Investments
From the investment side, as at Dec 31, 2025, Haw Par held around 74.85 million United Overseas Bank shares and just over 72 million United Overseas Land shares, which make up approximately 97% of Haw Par’s “strong” investment portfolio that provide a regular dividend income stream. Believing that UOB and UOL hold “strong” market positions in the banking and real estate sectors respectively, Macquarie estimates 66% of Har Par’s NAV to comprise these two investments.
Based on the declared and proposed dividends of UOB and UOL for FY2025, Haw Par stands to reap more than $134 million dividend income from these two investments. Vantarakis and Tan also point out that Har Par’s shareholder dividends are covered by 1.8 times on average by dividends from UOB and UOL.
Despite the annual earnings from UOB and UOL, Vantarakis and Tan note Haw Par’s “high dependence” on the two companies with 95% of total assets and 74% of ebit linked to long-term performance of the investments in UOB and UOL. They point out that Har Par’s holdings are too small to influence UOB and UOL’s operating performance and flag concerns of the commonality in the board of directors between all three companies.
Chart of Wee family's holdings in various companies
Source: Macquarie Equity Research
With Har Par’s $790 million net cash position worth 14% while the remaining 3% in other equity and debt securities, Vantarakis and Tan calculate Har Par’s NAV per share to be $25.64 based on the sum-of-the-parts valuation. They give a 20% discount for a fair value and target price of $20.6.
