SINGAPORE – Four listed counters called for a halt in the trading of their shares pending the release of announcements before the stock market opened on Monday (Aug 2).
Singapore Press Holdings, SPH Reit, Keppel Corp and Keppel Reit separately called for the trading halts within minutes of one another.
All four counters had closed higher on Friday. Shares of SPH, which publishes The Straits Times, rose 1.1 per cent to $1.88, while SPH Reit gained 0.6 per cent to 91.5 cents. Keppel advanced 1.9 per cent to $5.49, while Keppel Reit climbed 0.8 per cent to $1.20.
In May, SPH proposed a plan to hive off the media business into a new company limited by guarantee (CLG), a not-for-profit entity, as part of SPH’s ongoing strategic review.
This comes as SPH’s media business saw its first-ever loss of $11.4 million for the financial year ended on Aug 31 last year.
SPH will provide the initial resources and funding by capitalising the new SPH Media Trust with a cash injection of $80 million, along with $30 million worth of SPH shares and SPH Reit units and SPH’s stakes in four of its digital media investments.
Former coordinating minister for infrastructure and transport minister Khaw Boon Wan has been named the incoming chairman of the CLG, with veteran journalist and former deputy chief executive of SPH Patrick Daniel as interim chief executive.
The plan has received government support and is subject to SPH shareholders’ approval at an extraordinary general meeting that is due to be called.