UOL - United Overseas Land

[pianist]

judging by the huge turn-out at hong-lim park yesterday, there is every reason to expect higher incidental traffic flow into the nearby and newly opened park royal hotel along pickering street. huat ah!

[pianist]

15cents declared...swee...

[pianist]

The Board of Directors of UOL Group Limited (the “Company” or “UOL”) wishes to
announce that the Housing & Development Board (“HDB”) has awarded the tender
submitted by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Secure Development Pte. Ltd. for the land parcel
at Sengkang West Way (the “Site”) at a tender price of S$262,100,000 (“Tender Price”),
subject to the conditions of tender as set out in the tender documents.

[CY09]

UOL and its arm, Pan Pacific announced concurrently a trading halt. A REIT announcement (concerning the Parkroyal hotels) in the pipelines?

[propertyinvestor]

Yay takeover offer of Pan Pac from UOL

[ngcheeki]

UOL Group, the Singapore property developer controlled by billionaire Wee Cho Yaw, plans to take its hotel unit Pan Pacific Hotels Group private, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

UOL, which already owns 81.6% of Singapore-based Pan Pacific, plans to make an offer today, the people said, asking not to be named as the information is private. A UOL board meeting will be held this afternoon to approve the transaction, the people said.

Both UOL and Pan Pacific were suspended from trading this morning. Pan Pacific shares closed at $2.34 yesterday, giving it a market value of $1.4 billion, while UOL ended at $7.26, giving it a market value of $5.6 billion.

Pan Pacific manages more than 30 properties in the Asia- Pacific region and in North America. It runs 13 hotels under the Parkroyal brand, targeting both business and leisure travelers.

http://www.theedgesingapore.com/the-dail...otels.html

[kbl]

**The Company has on 10 May 2013 made a joint announcement with UOL Group Limited regarding a delisting
proposal and exit offer by UOL for the Company and details of the aforesaid are set out in the said announcement**

[pianist]

swee...
presantly looking forward to more information on this deal.
the newly renovated pan pac at marina square...realli like it

[kbl]

In the meantime, the Company and Pan Pacific Hotels Group Limited (PPHG)
today announced on the Singapore Exchange a proposal to seek a voluntary
delisting of PPHG by way of an exit offer by the Company to PPHG shareholders at
$2.55 a share.

not vested

---

In the meantime, the Company and Pan Pacific Hotels Group Limited (PPHG)
today announced on the Singapore Exchange a proposal to seek a voluntary
delisting of PPHG by way of an exit offer by the Company to PPHG shareholders at
$2.55 a share.

not vested

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...7002DC414/$file/UOL_PPHG_Joint_Announcement_Proposed_Voluntary_Delisting_of_Pan_Pacific_Hotels_Group_Limited.pdf?openelement

[Musicwhiz]

The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on May 11, 2013
UOL to take Pan Pacific Hotels private
Developer's exit offer of $2.55 a share values its subsidiary at $1.53 billion

By Melissa Tan

DEVELOPER UOL will spend up to $281.9 million to take its hotel arm private, it said yesterday.

UOL, controlled by billionaire Wee Cho Yaw, already owns 81.6 per cent of mainboard-listed Pan Pacific Hotels Group. It is offering $2.55 apiece for the rest of the shares it does not own in Pan Pacific, which values the subsidiary at around $1.53 billion.

Pan Pacific's second-largest shareholder, United Overseas Bank, has a stake of 7.99 per cent valued at around $122.2 million.

UOL's exit offer is 9 per cent higher than Pan Pacific's closing share price of $2.34 on Thursday, which put the hotel operator's market capitalisation at around $1.4 billion as of yesterday. Both companies halted trading of their shares before markets opened yesterday morning.

UOL chief financial officer Wellington Foo said on a conference call yesterday evening that taking Pan Pacific private would give UOL greater flexibility in managing its hotels.

Most of UOL's hotel assets are owned and managed by Pan Pacific but some are owned by UOL, such as Pan Pacific Orchard.

Noting that UOL could then "put them together" rather than keep these hotels separate, Mr Foo did not rule out establishing a holding company for all of UOL's hotel assets but said that was "not imminent".

UOL said in a statement yesterday the voluntary delisting of Pan Pacific would give an exit option to minority shareholders who find it difficult to realise their investment, due to the stock's low trading liquidity and low free float.

Pan Pacific has a free float of up to 10.44 per cent. Its shares have risen almost 30 per cent over the past 52 weeks, reaching a high of $2.54 on Feb 27 this year.

The privatisation is subject to approval from 75 per cent of shareholders but it is a done deal, given that UOL's stake exceeds that threshold.

Analysts yesterday said UOL's next privatisation target could be other UOL-linked companies such as developer United Industrial Corporation (UIC) and landlord Singapore Land (SingLand).

"The speculation is that if this (Pan Pacific) is privatised, then most people will start looking at UIC and SingLand to be the next target," said CIMB-GK analyst Donald Chua in a Bloomberg report yesterday.

But Mr Foo yesterday said UOL did not foresee taking UIC private in the near future, and that UOL did not control SingLand directly. UOL owns around 43 per cent of UIC, which in turn owns around 80 per cent of SingLand.

Both UOL and Pan Pacific posted first-quarter results yesterday.

UOL's net profit fell 15 per cent to $71.7 million, owing to higher currency exchange losses and lower profit from hotel operations, which were affected by the opening costs of the $350 million Parkroyal on Pickering hotel in January.

The group's revenue for the three months ended March 31 dropped 17 per cent to $247.8 million, due to lower contribution from property development.

Pan Pacific's net profit tumbled 45 per cent to $9.5 million for the quarter despite a 1 per cent rise in revenue to $97.8 million.

UOL shares closed at $7.26 on Thursday. Trading in UOL and Pan Pacific shares will resume on Monday.

melissat@sph.com.sg