Shareholders have given their blessing to the demerger of Sembcorp Marine (SembMarine) from its parent company, Sembcorp Industries (Sembcorp) following votes in favour of three resolutions at two extraordinary general meetings (EGMs) held on Tuesday morning (Aug 11).
The greenlight is now given for the $2.1 billion recapitalisation plan for SembMarine, the group's offshore marine arm bleeding badly from the industry's prolonged downturn amid an oil price crash. The plan will see Temasek Holdings taking a big direct stake in the company. Parent Sembcorp will become free to focus on its energy and urban development business.
The outcome of the voting was even more keenly watched after the surprise news on Monday of Temasek dropping its $4.1 billion bid for control of Keppel Corp.
Sembcorp shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of its move to distribute its shares in specie. Earlier this morning, SembMarine shareholders also voted overwhelmingly in favour of the two resolutions on SembMarine’s undertaking of the rights issue and a whitewash resolution that will waive investors’ rights to receive a mandatory takeover offer from Temasek.
At the Sembcorp EGM, 99.67 per cent, or shareholders of 302.6 million shares, voted for the distribution of shares in specie. At the SembMarine EGM, 98.76 per cent, or shareholders of some 1.4 billion shares, voted for the rights issue, while 87.72 per cent, or shareholders with a collective 121.3 million shares, voted for the whitewash resolution, the companies said in filings to the Singapore Exchange.
The resolution from Sembcorp, along with the other two from SembMarine, required a simple majority, but all three resolutions were inter-conditional. SembMarine said that the rights issue, approved and passed by its shareholders, will “further depend on the outcome of the Sembcorp distribution resolution” that has been tabled to investors.
Source: Straits Times
