The company acquired almost 75 per cent of the group’s issued share capital, after slightly less than half of the remaining shareholders chose not to sell. Trading in SCMP shares was suspended today pending a formal announcement on the status of its public float. Kerry Media made a mandatory offer for the group late last year, which became unconditional earlier this month after its stake in the company passed 50 per cent (Media, 21 February).
A source familiar with the situation pointed out that minority shareholders may have felt that the SCMP Group’s property assets were being undervalued by Kerry Media’s offer price.
“SCMP has a bunch of properties which might be better transferred to another Kerry Group company, and once they privatised it might be easier to make those transfers,” said the source. “Minority shareholders may have been aggrieved.”
SCMP Group’s property assets include TV City along with a significant amount of office building space. While the SCMP Group has been hit by falling corporate notice spend, and increased competition from the internet and free daily The Standard, it remains a “highly profitable” operation, said the source.
