Competition hots up for SPH Assets: higher Keppel bid in the works?

SINGAPORE – Just as Singapore Press Holding (SPH) was readying to put out the $3.4 billion cash-plus-shares offer from Keppel Corporation to its shareholders at its upcoming EGM, onto the scene comes businessman Ong Beng Seng together with two Temasek-linked entities with an all-cash offer of $2.10 for the property group.

In a surprise early morning announcement, Cuscaden Peak – a consortium comprising a unit of Mr Ong’s Hotel Properties, a unit of Mapletree group and the majority shareholder of Capitaland – announced they had submitted an all-cash offer for SPH via a scheme of arrangement.