Spindex: Undervalued tech manufacturing player; potential privatisation candidate

The tech manufacturing industry is a key component in the value chain of industries including automotive, telecommunications, consumer electronics and household appliances. Singapore is home to a large number of tech manufacturing and assembly stocks, mostly in the mid- to small-cap range of less than $1 billion.

Over the recent few months, a series of investments or takeover offers have been made for some of the notable companies in this sector. They include a privatisation-cum-delisting offer of $2 per share for Hi-P International by its chairman Yao Hsiao Tung in December 2020; a $99.7 million buyout offer from electronics service provider, AEM Holdings, for electronics contract manufacturer, CEI, in January 2021; and the $1.65 per share offer for Sunningdale Tech jointly made by its chairman Koh Boon Hwee with the Novo Tellus private equity fund in November 2020. The rationale for these corporate actions is mainly centred around business synergies, apart from cheap and attractive valuations of takeover targets.

Spindex Industries is a precision machines components manufacturer and assembly solutions provider. Spindex mainly serves the following business sectors: imaging and printing; machinery and automotive systems; and consumer appliances and related products.