Samta Hotels, which belongs to the Ng family, the controlling shareholder of Furama, is making a voluntary unconditional cash offer for all the Furama shares it does not own at $2 each. The Ng family holds a total of about 103 million or 66.6% of Furama shares directly or through Samta.

Furama is an investment holding company focusing on the hospitality industry. The group owns the Furama RiverFront Hotel (formerly the Apollo Hotel Singapore) and the Furama City Centre Hotel (formerly the Furama Hotel Singapore). Furama also holds a 13% interest in the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Taipei and the company also entered into joint ventures with various Thai partners and invested in four hotel properties in Bangkok.

The Ng family intends to privatise the company as its shares are thinly traded and the free float is low. “The company has not raised any funds from the capital markets for at least the last 10 years and is unlikely to require access to the capital markets to finance its operations in the foreseeable future,” it adds.

Samta Hotels says the acquisition will help save compliance costs related to its listing status and also enable minority shareholders to realise their investment at a price 37% higher than the last transacted price of $1.46 on Dec 14.