Great Eastern Holdings has been given till May 25 to comply with the free float rule, following a previous extension that would’ve put the insurance company’s deadline at Jan 24.
The extension was given as the company is slated to release its results for the FY2024 ended Dec 31, 2024, on Feb 25, before the trading market opens. The company is also expected to publish its FY2024 annual report towards the end of March this year.
According to Great Eastern’s filing on Jan 24, the company has been assessing “various options” for it to comply with the listing rules since its shares were suspended on July 15, 2024.
In line with these assessments, Great Eastern says it intends to appoint a financial adviser to provide advice on “possible additional options” for the company to comply with the listing rules.
“As the information in the FY2024 annual report will be important to the company and the financial adviser in assessing the options available for the company to comply with the requirements of the listing manual, including possibly approaching Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) for assistance in complying with the relevant rules of the listing manual, the company had made a further application to the SGX-ST,” read paragraph 2.3 of Great Eastern’s statement. SGX-ST refers to the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.
In addition, the company stresses that its board has been complying with rules and regulations applicable to the offer to “ensure that the interests of shareholders were safeguarded throughout”. Furthermore, the company said it had formed a committee of independent directors to oversee the engagement of the independent financial advisor (IFA).
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On May 10, 2024, OCBC announced that it would offer $25.60 per share in Great Eastern for the 11.56% stake it did not own at the time. The offer price represented a premium of 36.9% over Great Eastern’s last-traded price of $18.70. It also represented premiums of 38.6%, 40.0% and 42.4% over the one-month, three-month and 12-month periods up to and including the last trading date of May 9, 2024.
Great Eastern lost its free float on June 14, 2024, when OCBC received 1.48 million shares, bringing the bank’s total stake in the insurer to 90.16%.
Shares in Great Eastern last traded at $25.80 before its suspension.
