Japan's Ishikawajima Heavy Industries (IHI) halved its stake in Singapore's SembCorp Marine yesterday (June 2) raising S$60.6 million ($36 million) from a 30 million share deal. The JPMorgan-led offering was priced at S$2.02 per share, which equated to a 3.3% discount to the stock's S$2.09 close.
Back in the 1960's, IHI was the original JV partner in SembCorp Marine alongside the Singaporean government, but has seen its stake progressively diluted since then. The latest deal reduces its holding to just 2.1%.
The offering represents about 12 days trading and comes at a time when most analysts are turning neutral on the stock. The Singaporean shipbuilder is currently trading around 23 times 2005 earnings and 18 times 2006 earnings following a 53% stock price appreciation year-to-date.
The order book for the deal is said to have closed about three times covered with participation from about 20 accounts. About half were said to be new to the company.
