Indonesian private equity firm The Northstar Group has agreed to acquire a controlling 50.05% stake in Nera Telecommunications (NeraTel) for S$88.8m (US$ 72.5m), its first deal in the Singapore market.
In an announcement made today, Northstar said that…
Indonesian private equity firm The Northstar Group has agreed to acquire a controlling 50.05% stake in Nera Telecommunications (NeraTel) for S$88.8m (US$ 72.5m), its first deal in the Singapore market.
In an announcement made today, Northstar said that it had signed an agreement with Norwegian power solutions provider Eltek for the latter’s 181,136,000 shares in Nera at S$0.49 (US$0.4) a share. Nera manufactures ground-based devices for the satellite industry.
In line with Singapore takeover and merger laws, Northstar has made a mandatory offer at the same share price for the remainder of the company, which values the whole of NeraTel at about S$177.3m (US$144.75m).
Northstar’s offer is a discount of 5.8% from yesterday’s closing share price.
Standard Chartered Bank acted as financial adviser to Northstar in the transaction and Rippledot Capital advised Eltek.
“We are pleased that after several months of negotiations, Eltek has chosen Northstar’s offer over other competing options,” said Ashish Shastry, the Singapore-based managing partner of Northstar, in a statement. “Both parties have reached what we believe is a fair deal, in which other shareholders can participate through Northstar’s mandatory general offer.”
In an announcement on 19 November regarding the sale, Eltek said: “Eltek’s strategic focus lies within the power electronics industry, and the transaction will strengthen the company’s financial platform to further develop the core business activities.”
Back in February 2012, Eltek announced that it had agreed to sell its majority stake to Singapore Technologies Electronics for around S$141.1m (US$112m). However, the shareholders of NeraTel subsequently voted against the sale of the company in July prompting Eltek to consider ‘strategic alternatives’.
