A SINGAPORE firm has bought a majority stake in Hong Kong-listed property company Walsin International Holdings for $536.43 million. Walsin was previously controlled by Taiwan-listed Walsin Lihwa Corp, which is selling its entire stake. Under the agreement, Angkasa Marketing (Singapore) (AMS) will buy 118.84 million Walsin shares, 56.56 per cent of the entire issued share capital, at $4.514 per share. The price represents a premium of 11.5 per cent over the closing price of $4.05 per share quoted on February 17, the trading day before the signing of the agreement. The price is 78.4 per cent above the audited net asset value per share of $2.53 on April 30 last year, and 23 per cent above the unaudited net asset value per share of $3.67 on February 4. The completion of the share sale agreement is expected to occur on or before April 17, 1994. Carr Indosuez, on behalf of the offeror, is making a conditional cash offer for all the issued shares other than those already owned and conditionally agreed to be acquired by Angkasa. Before the deal was struck, on February 18, Angkasa and parties acting in concert with it controlled about one per cent of the issued share capital of Walsin. Angkasa is a private limited company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Amalgamated Steel Mills (ASM), a member of the Lion Group of companies of Malaysia. The Lion Group's core businesses are making steel, motor vehicles and computer products, finance and services, property development, construction and investment, trading, retailing and plantations. ASM is one of 10 Lion Group companies listed in Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta. Angkasa said the principle activities of Walsin would remain unchanged but its existing property portfolio would be reviewed to improve longer-term growth and profitability. New investment opportunities would also be identified. In connection with the share transaction, Walsin has agreed to sell the issued share capital of a number of subsidiaries to Walsin Hong Kong Corp, a company wholly owned by Walsin Lihwa, for a total of $80.7 million. These include Konyee Investment, which owns the 18th floor of Peregrine Tower, Lippo Centre; Konhom Development, which has an indirect holding of 10 per cent in Nanjing Xingning Real Estate Development; Walsin Management, which provides management services to Walsin; and Walsin Lihwa (HK), a trading firm. A management agreement has also been signed under which Walsin Management will continue to provide management services to the Walsin Group for a period of six months from April 1 this year. In the meantime, Konkok Investment, a wholly owned subsidiary of Walsin, has agreed to lease to Walsin Lihwa an office unit in Shanghai with a floor area of 7,286 square feet for a period of two years at a rental of US$7,000 a month for the first year and US$12,286 a month for the second year.
