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(Singapore)
THE saga has finally come to an end. CK Tang will return
to the Tangs' treasure trove after the delisting offer from the founder's two
sons went through at the shareholders' meeting yesterday.
The votes rejecting the exit price of 83 cents per share represented less than 4 per cent of the shares represented at the meeting. The delisting proposal made in May would have failed if the votes against it had totalled 10 per cent.
This marks the end of the retailer's 34 years as a listed firm, though the journey to this point has been nothing but arduous. The Tang brothers have been trying to take the company private since 2004. All three delisting attempts made by Tang Wee Sung and youngest brother Wee Kit have met with fierce disagreements from some minority investors over the exit price.
The third try was no different as yesterday's battle royale saw disgruntled shareholders raising numerous questions that delayed the vote, which had already been adjourned for two weeks.
Shareholders quizzed CEO Foo Tiang Sooi about his independence in recommending that shareholders accept the offer.
'Do you know Tang Wee Sung personally as a schoolmate? Are you personal friends?' said Alan Goei, who has been a rallying force among the minority shareholders. 'The question of independence is very critical to me.' But Mr Foo replied: 'It is true that we were in school together but it is irrelevant for the purpose of the meeting. I should add that your brother, Douglas, is also a friend of mine but that is irrelevant as well.'
Another shareholder, a lawyer who declined to be named, also tried to call for a vote of no-confidence against chairman Ernest Seow and to elect another chairman. But Tang Holdings' lawyer Ronnie Quek retorted that the election of a chairman is only needed if no chairman is available.
A group of about 20 CK Tang employees and other members from the pro-Tang camp - who had not attended the previous meeting - agreed with raucous applause. After about ten minutes of consulting the board's legal advisers from Drew and Napier, the directors rejected the motion.
'The vote of no-confidence is an attempt to frustrate the meeting,' said Mr Seow.
In the latest saga, these investors - many of whom have held shares since the company went public in 1975 - pressed for a higher valuation of the Orchard Road flagship store based on redevelopment potential.
The resistance became more organised this time as Mr Goei held a series of discussions with shareholders and roped in investor watchdog Securities Investors Association (Singapore), or SIAS.
Over the last few weeks, he proposed a range of ideas from building an additional residential block, to presenting a fresh valuation that was about $60 million higher than the original valuation presented by the board.
SIAS also stepped into the fray to object to the exit price, saying that the minorities had been treated with no dignity.
But the directors tossed these out, saying redevelopment potential was a 'non-issue'. After reviewing the new valuation report, the appointed valuer, the independent financial adviser and the board have kept their recommendations, said Mr Seow.
The board had allowed the meeting to be adjourned two weeks ago to avoid criticism that the directors were 'ruling with an iron hand', he told reporters. But the regulators told the directors that redevelopment was not applicable, he added.
The Tang brothers - who were absent again from the meeting - have always insisted on following the department store concept and maintained that CK Tang is a retail player and not a property developer.
Mr Foo said yesterday that redevelopment is still out of the picture, though renovations are always considered to beat the competition on Orchard Road.
As at Thursday night, victory was not clear as the level of acceptances for the offer had hit only 89.9 per cent. The cliffhanger was all too familiar. In 2004, a single vote denied Tang Wee Sung the chance to privatise the company at 42 cents a share. A second offer of 65 cents a share in 2006 also flopped.
CK Tang was founded by retail magnate Tang Choon Keng, who died in 2000. He was fondly known as the 'Tin Trunk Man', for selling Chinese hand-embroidered linen out of a pair of tin trunks.
The company is expected to be delisted on Aug 24.
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