Temasek unit sells off partial holding

Temasek unit sells off partial holding

A unit of Singapore's Temasek Holdings has sold off a 7.9% stake in telecom giant Shin Corp.

Shin, which rebranded earlier this year as In Touch, told the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) that Cedar Holdings had sold 60% of its stake to Thai investors and the rest to Thai NVDR Co. The sale resulted in Cedar's holdings in Shin falling to 46.44%.

Shin said that Aspen Holdings, another Temasek investment vehicle, had no intention of selling its 41.67% stake in the company.
In January 2006, Shin founder and then-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced the sale of a 49.6% stake in the company to Temasek Holdings for 73 billion baht. Temasek later raised its total stake holding in the company to around 96% following a mandatory tender offer.
The deal sparked widespread protests against Thaksin, who was convicted last year by the Supreme Court of swaying policies while prime minister to benefit his business interests. The court confiscated 46 billion baht in funds from the Shin sale proceeds.
The announcement of the Temasek sale yesterday helped push shares of Shin down 2.25 baht or 5.62% to 37.75 baht on the SET, compared with a 0.4% decline in the main SET index.
According to Bloomberg, the shares were sold to investors for a price of 35.5 baht to 37.25 baht each. Temasek made the initial investment in Shin at a price of 49.25 baht per share.
Somprasong Boonyachai, the Shin executive chairman, said the sale was done for purely business considerations.
Share prices for Shin and other telecommunications companies have jumped sharply in recent weeks following the victory of Thaksin's sister, Yingluck Shinawatra and the Pheu Thai Party. The stock reached its one-year high on Aug 1 at 42 baht, and has gained nearly 28% in value over the past 12 months.
Mr Somprasong said the share sale would also help boost the stock's trading liquidity in the market by making more shares available to investors.
"The price reached the target for [Temasek]. It's natural in any investment. I don't believe Temasek has any plans to divest further, as they have never given any indication of plans like that," he said.
Shin last week reported first half profits of 5.24 billion baht on revenues of 9.7 billion baht.
The company's investments include holdings in mobile operator Advanced Info Service, satellite operator Thaicom, internet operator CS Loxinfo and advertising agency Matchbox.