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THE shareholder leading the charge against the CK Tang buyout proposal is bracing himself for defeat at today's much-anticipated extraordinary general meeting.
The numbers are stacked against Mr Alan Goei and other minority investors, despite a hard-fought and at times emotional battle to halt the plan.
A battle-hardened Mr Goei told The Straits Times yesterday: 'I think I've done all I can. We've appealed to every conceivable authority we can think of. I'm exhausted and quite drained.'
The arithmetic looks impregnable. The Tang family holdings' stake stands at 89.51 per cent of the firm, including the number of accepted offers. The delisting will go through if votes against the move total less than 10 per cent of the issued shares.
It seems to be a done deal in all but name. 'I think the offerers are very close to their 90 per cent shareholding. People who are sympathetic to them could swing the vote,' Mr Goei said.
He entered the fray earlier this month when he joined a handful of other minority investors to sign a petition to the Singapore Exchange and the Finance Ministry, expressing unhappiness about the buyout proposal.
They said the value of $340 million placed on the firm by Jones Lang LaSalle, which carried out an assessment for CK Tang's board, was too low.
Mr Goei and the others maintain that the figure was too low as it did not take into account the re-development potential of the company's prime Orchard Road property. They also feel the offer share price of 83 cents is too low.
Two days ago, Mr Goei gave the board an estimate from a professional property valuer that values the firm at $394 million.
It was his last gambit before today's meeting and follows a minor victory achieved on July 17 when minority shareholders managed to get the board to adjourn an extraordinary general meeting so directors could get advice on how to deal with concerns about the valuation and other issues.
Mr Goei said it has been a 'very long and stressful two weeks' since that meeting but an advantage has been that he has been 'meeting people who share the same conviction as you, and friends who offer help and yet not charge a penny'.
The director at real estate firm Goldhill Developer bought most of his CK Tang shares about two years ago, thinking the property boom in the Orchard area could mean a higher valuation for the retailer.
Buyouts have had a fraught history at CK Tang. This is the Tang family's third attempt since 2003 to take the firm private.
Shareholders have rebuffed the previous two
and Mr Goei expects the mood at the meeting today to be very tense.
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