Exit offer for Challenger Technologies fails over shareholder vote

It will remain listed on the SGX-ST after 11.36% of shareholders voted against its delisting.

The delisting of information technology (IT) retailer Challenger Technologies will not proceed and the company will remain listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading (SGX-ST), a filing with the local bourse revealed.

The voluntary exit offer by the firm failed to go through after some 11.36% of shareholders voted against the resolution in an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held on 27 June.

As stated in its exit offer letter, the delisting and exit offer were conditional on the basis that the resolution to approve the delisting was approved by at least 75% of the total number of issued shares held by shareholders present and voting on a poll, and not being voted against by 10% or more of the total number of issued shares held by stakeholders.

“The exit offer has lapsed with effect from 27 June and all shares tendered in acceptance of the exit offer will be returned to shareholders,” DBS Bank said on behalf of IT services firm Digileap Capital. Challenger Technologies first announced it would delist from the SGX-ST in March, with Digileap Capital making a cash exit offer for all the issued and paid-up ordinary shares of Challenger at an exit price of $0.56 apiece.

Amongst the reasons for the proposed delisting, the firm explained that Challenger “has not carried out any exercise to raise cash funding on the SGX-ST since 2007, and is unlikely to require access to Singapore capital markets to finance its operations in the foreseeable future.”

It further noted that the delising would eliminate the costs of compliance with the listing rules and regulations, thereby allowing Challenger to focus its resources on its business operations.

The Central Depository will return the aggregate number of offer shares to the respective securities accounts of shareholders within 14 days.