ING hired to advise on offer for SmarTone
ING Bank has been appointed as an independent financial adviser to help shareholders of mobile operator SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings weigh up the technical general offer by parent company Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP).
A team of financial experts from ING Bank will go through SmarTone's books and produce a report on the offer which is likely to be published through the stock exchange next week, according to a source.
ING Bank was selected for the job by an independent panel set up by SmarTone's board.
Leading residential developer and office landlord SHKP, which already owns 30.1 per cent of SmarTone, has offered HK$8.25 per share to buy the rest of the company. The offer, which is open to December 31, is unlikely to interest small shareholders because it is below the market price.
SHKP is believed to have made the offer to tempt the BT Group to part with its 19.9 per cent stake in SmarTone for cash while keeping the mobile operator as a listed entity.
The ING Bank team would look at the offer from the perspective of SmarTone shareholders, the source said.
Given the offer is below the market price, it seems likely the ING team will not come out in favour. But that does not mean BT, which has been looking to refocus on its home market, will automatically turn it down.
'They have to look at the deal on the table and ask themselves if they are likely to get a better offer,' the source said.
The 19.9 per cent stake might not be attractive to other telecoms companies because it would not give management control, he said.
