Henderson Land Development, the blue-chip flagship headed by Lee Shau-kee, yesterday launched another bid to privatise its 73.48 per cent-held Henderson Investment in a deal that could be worth more than $7.5 billion.
Henderson Land and Henderson Investment shares were suspended from trading yesterday pending an announcement of the details of the buyout plan. The two companies said in a joint statement the privatisation would be by way of exchange of securities.
Henderson Land made a similar bid for its investment arm in 2002 but minority shareholders, led by Templeton Investment, rejected an offer of $7.60 a share then because they said it was too low. Henderson Investment's asset value was $10.52 a share at the time.
Analysts said shareholders would be unimpressed if the latest privatisation proposal merely involved a simple share swap, because Hong Kong's property market was on a downward trend.
The company's share price was $10.65 when trading was halted.
Mark Mobius, the managing director of Templeton Investment, confirmed it no longer held shares in the company, thus clearing one of the potential hurdles to Henderson Land's proposal.
The bid for Henderson Investment, whose principal business is property investments largely overlapping with those of its parent, is seen as a way to streamline the group's structure.