http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/premium/...t-20140924
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 24, 2014
Cordlife's big China gambit
Stake in China Cord Blood Corporation is for the long haul: CEO Jeremy Yee
BYJOYCE HOOI
joyceh@sph.com.sg @JoyceHooiBT
Mr Yee: 'I think we're doing the right thing. I don't need a consensus from analysts to run a business.' - ST FILE PHOTO
WHENEVER Cordlife Group's Jeremy Yee looks at his firm's stake in China Cord Blood Corporation (CCBC), the only thing that must irritate him is how Cordlife does not own more of it.
Now, what must irritate Cordlife's CEO even more is how some on the Street - or "the people in Raffles Place" as he calls them - have reacted to his attempt to boost the company's stake in CCBC.
Last month, Cordlife and Magnum Opus International (Magnum) - a vehicle controlled by CCBC's chairman Kam Yuen - agreed to go halves on CCBC senior convertible notes costing about US$88.09 million. These notes carry the principal amount of US$50 million and a coupon rate of 7 per cent.
If Cordlife were to fully convert its half of the notes, it would increase its CCBC stake from 10.02 per cent to almost 18 per cent.