In one of the largest block trades in Asia this year, Temasek Holdings on September 25 raised S$1.28 billion (US$1.04 billion) from a selldown of its stake in Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel).
The Singapore state’s investment company sold 400 million shares in SingTel at S$3.20 each, which represents a discount of 3.9% to the stock’s close on September 25. The offering was priced at the lower end of S$3.20 to S$3.25 initial guidance. The deal was launched with an option of additional 100 million shares, which did not get exercised.
The sold shares represent a 2.5% stake in SingTel. After the selldown, Temasek’s interest in SingTel, the country’s largest telecom company, will fall to 52% from 54.5%, still making the largest shareholder in the company.
"As an active investor for the long term, we rebalance our portfolio from time to time,” Temasek said in a statement. “We continue to be a significant shareholder in SingTel, which remains the largest company in our portfolio.”
SingTel’s shares dropped as much as 5.1% on September 26 after the block trade, but pared some losses to close down 3.9% to S$3.2 per share, the same price as the block trade.
Citgroup and Morgan Stanley were the bookrunners on the sale.