The hotel group is also selling part of One Causeway Bay for US$925 million

[SINGAPORE] Controlling shareholder Jardine Matheson is moving to take Mandarin Oriental private in a recommended cash takeover valued at US$3.35 per share, bringing the hotel group&rsquo s total valuation to about US$4.2 billion.

 

Jardine Matheson&rsquo s wholly owned subsidiary Bidco will acquire the remaining 11.96 per cent of Mandarin Oriental shares it does not already own. The offer includes a US$2.75 scheme value and a US$0.60 special dividend from the hotel group&rsquo s sale of part of One Causeway Bay (OCB), a commercial development in Hong Kong.

 

It represents about a 52.3 per cent premium to Mandarin Oriental&rsquo s closing price of US$2.20 on Sep 29 &ndash the last business day before the company announced the possible OCB sale &ndash and a 53.7 per cent premium to its net asset value of US$2.18 per share as at Jun 30. 

 

The offer also represents a 62.6 per cent, 65.8 per cent and 70.9 per cent premium over Mandarin Oriental&rsquo s volume weighted average price for the one-month, three-month and six-month period, respectively.

 

Mandarin Oriental on Friday (Oct 17) said that it will sell the top 13 floors of OCB, the building&rsquo s rooftop signage and 50 parking spaces &ndash totalling 301,555 square feet (sq ft) in floor area &ndash to Alibaba Group and Chinese financial tech company Ant Group for US$925 million. Alibaba and Ant Group were co-founded by Jack Ma.  

 

The remaining office space spanning 286,984 sq ft and retail component, which takes up 82,550 sq ft, will remain owned by Mandarin Oriental. 

 

Jardine Matheson noted that the privatisation of Mandarin Oriental aligns with its strategy to &ldquo deliver superior, long-term returns&rdquo from its portfolio of businesses and is in line with its capital allocation framework. 

 

It added that full private ownership of Mandarin Oriental would simplify its own corporate structure and better support the hotel group&rsquo s growth. The acquisition is also intended to give shareholders a chance to realise full value for their Mandarin Oriental shares. 

 

If the deal does not proceed, Jardine Matheson plans to continue pursuing the company&rsquo s delisting by other means.

 

Jardine Matheson also pointed out that Mandarin Oriental shares have historically had low trading volumes and liquidity, often trading below adjusted net asset value. The deal would, thus, allow shareholders to sell their shares at a premium and receive cash return from the OCB sale via the US$0.60 per share special dividend.

 

Jardine Matheson plans to finance the scheme value through cash on its balance sheet, alongside committed facilities. 

 

If the scheme goes ahead, Mandarin Oriental will be removed from all the stock exchanges it is listed on, including in Singapore. 

 

One Causway Bay sale

Mandarin Oriental said that the partial sale of One Causeway Bay is part of its asset-light strategy and will enable a &ldquo significant return&rdquo of capital to its shareholders. 

 

From the proceeds, the company will repay borrowings of US$96 million drawn for the construction of the property. 

 

It will retain up to 3 per cent of the gross proceeds to fund the remaining construction cost of OCB, as well as provide Alibaba and Ant Group with a fixed sum of US$37 million towards planned enhancements to the property.

 

After selling expenses, about US$758 million will be distributed to shareholders via a special dividend of US$0.60 per share.

 

The sale, which is a condition of the takeover by Jardine Matheson, is slated for completion by Dec 31. The buyout of Mandarin Oriental is expected to close by Feb 28, 2026, if conditions are met. 

 

Jardine Matheson and Mandarin Oriental will release their third-quarter financials on Nov 21. 

 

In Singapore, shares of   Jardine Matheson   : J36 +0.79% closed on Friday 0.8 per cent or US$0.48 higher at US$61.13, and   Mandarin Oriental   : M04 +0.42% ended 0.4 per cent or US$0.01 higher at US$2.40.

He will be the first to assume this role in the company

 

[SINGAPORE] Jardine Cycle & Carriage has appointed former OCBC group chief executive officer Samuel Tsien as its new independent chairman, effective Nov 11.

 

The 71-year-old, who is currently a lead independent director at Jardine C& C, will succeed chairman John Witt, the company said in a bourse filing on Wednesday (Oct 15)

 

Witt, who is 61-years-old, announced his retirement in May this year.

 

Tsien was executive director at OCBC until his retirement from office in 2021. He is currently a director of Singapore Exchange and Mapletree Investments.

 

He will be the first independent chairman of Jardine C& C.

 

Jardine C& C is the investment holding company of Hong Kong-based conglomerate Jardine Matheson Group in South-east Asia.

 

Astra International will acquire Arafura Surya Alam through two of United Tractors&rsquo wholly-owned units

 

[SINGAPORE] Jardine Cycle & Carriage on Monday (Sep 15) announced that two of its indirect subsidiaries have signed a deal to buy Arafura Surya Alam (ASA) for US$540 million.  

 

Subsidiary Danusa Tambang Nusantara (DTN) will purchase 99.99 per cent of ASA&rsquo s total issued share capital from J Resources Nusantara (JRN), while Energia Prima Nusantara (EPN) will buy the remaining one share in ASA and one share of Mulia Bumi Persada (MBP) from Jimmy Budiarto.

 

The MBP share represents about 0.2 per cent of its total issued share capital, with the remaining 99.8 per cent held by ASA. The two companies will now be indirect subsidiaries of the Jardine C& C group.

 

Both DTN and EPN are wholly owned subsidiaries of construction machinery and mining company United Tractors, which is listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). Jardine C& C&rsquo s Jakarta-listed subsidiary Astra International owns 59.5 per cent of United Tractors. 

 

Jardine C& C said the proposed acqusition aims to expand United Tractors&rsquo business in the mineral sector.

 

Since its incorporation, ASA has been a non-operating company with non-meaningful financial information, said the bourse filing. It is intended to be a gold mining company and holds a mining business for the 4,000-hectare Doup mining block in the province of North Sulawesi, Indonesia. 

 

The block holds 1.57 million ounces of gold deposits and 3.1 million ounces of gold resources. Its sole asset is the licence for the block, which is a brownfield site to be developed by United Tractors.

 

Gold was at US$3637.87 per ounce at the time of the announcement. The metal is up nearly 40 per cent year to date.

 

DTN acts as a holding company for United Tractors&rsquo mineral business and is currently focused on expanding its business in gold and nickel. Meanwhile, EPN is the holding company for the development of renewable energy for United Tractors.

 

Jardine C& C reports 23% fall in H1 earnings to US$371 million on unrealised fair value losses

ASA&rsquo s enterprise value of US$540 million was determined after arm&rsquo s length negotiations, said the filing, and will be fully funded by internal resources of the United Tractors group.

 

Jardine C& C added that the acqusition is subject to approval from the regulator, creditors of JRN and ASA, as well as the shareholders of JRN parent company J Resources Asia Pasifik. The final date of the fulfillment of the conditions is to be no later than Dec 23, 2025. 

The board has declared an interim dividend of US$0.28 per share

 

[SINGAPORE] Jardine Cycle & Carriage (JC& C) : C07 -0.62% on Wednesday (Jul 30) reported a 23 per cent decline in earnings to S$371.1 million for the first half of 2025, from S$483.3 million for the same period a year earlier.

 

This was mainly driven by unrealised fair value losses related to noncurrent investments, the group said in a bourse filing. 

 

Revenue for H1 2025 inched up 1 per cent to US$10.8 billion, from US$10.7 billion a year earlier.

 

The board has declared an interim dividend of US$0.28 per share, unchanged from H1 2024. The dividend will be paid on Oct 3, 2025.

 

Underlying profit for H1 2025 grew 6 per cent to US$529.1 million, from US$500.1 million a year earlier. This was driven by a US$33 million translation gain on foreign currency corporate loans and higher contributions from the Vietnam business.

 

Contribution to underlying profits from Vietnam came in at US$36 million, up 17 per cent year on year from US$30 million in H1 2024. 

This was driven by higher sales in Truong Hai Group (Thaco), as well as JC& C&rsquo s increased stake in Ree Corporation &ndash to 41.6 per cent from 34.9 per cent previously &ndash and the Vietnamese company&rsquo s higher earnings from its power-generation business.

 

JC& C&rsquo s Indonesia business, meanwhile, posted a 9 per cent fall in underlying profit to US$466 million for H1 2025, from US$513 million a year earlier. Lower contributions from Astra due to weaker performances from its new car, mining and coal mining operations were partially offset by improved earnings from financial services, agribusiness and infrastructure. 

 

Ben Birks, managing director of JC& C, noted that while the macroeconomic environment &ldquo remains challenging&rdquo , the group expects its &ldquo businesses in Indonesia and Singapore is expected to remain stable, (and its) Vietnamese businesses are expected to build on the country&rsquo s economic momentum for the rest of the year&rdquo .

 

&ldquo Looking further ahead, we remain focused on our longer-term objective of building a portfolio with strong growth and total shareholder returns,&rdquo Birks added.

But full-year underlying profit was down 5% due to foreign exchange differences

 

JARDINE Cycle & Carriage : C07 +0.23% (C& C) posted a 4.4 per cent rise in its underlying profit of US$602 million for the six months ended December 31, 2024. This came as revenue for the period rose 9 per cent to US$11.6 billion

 

However, its full-year underlying profit was down 5 per cent to US$1.1 billion due to foreign exchange differences, the company said in its earnings statement on Thursday (Feb 27).

 

The company&rsquo s revenue for the full year was flat at US$22.3 billion. But its corporate costs had increased to US$83 million, from US$52 million previously, largely due to the translation of foreign currency loans. There was a &ldquo swing&rdquo from a forex gain of US$22 million to a loss of US$17 million this year, the company noted.

 

Excluding the foreign translation impact, its underlying profit would have risen 3 per cent instead.

 

Jardine C& C&rsquo s board proposed a final dividend of 84 US cents per share, down from last year&rsquo s final dividend of 90 US cents per share. The latest dividend will be paid on Jun 13.

 

After accounting for non-trading items, the company&rsquo s FY2024 net profit stood at US$946 million, 22 per cent lower than the previous year.

 

The non-trading items comprised a US$127 million loss from the stake disposal of Siam City Cement and unrealised fair value losses of US$28 million related to non-current investments.

 

Going by segment, the Indonesian business&rsquo contribution to underlying profit fell 3 per cent to US$1 billion. In particular, contributions from Astra were hit by a weaker Indonesian rupiah.

 

&ldquo On a rupiah basis, however, Astra has delivered another year of record earnings, mainly due to higher earnings from its motorcycle sales, financial services, and infrastructure and logistics businesses,&rdquo Jardine C& C said in its earnings statement.

 

The company&rsquo s Vietnam business contributed US$103 million to its underlying profit, unchanged from the previous year. Contributions from automobile player Thaco were up 10 per cent to US$39 million.

 

Thaco&rsquo s automotive profit benefited from registration tax incentives in the second half of 2024, with unit sales 10 per cent higher, the company noted.

 

Separately, Jardine C& C&rsquo s Regional Interests &ndash which includes Cycle & Carriage and Toyota Motor &ndash contributed US$55 million in underlying profit, up 9 per cent from 2023. Contributions from Cycle & Carriage rose 13 per cent to US$32 million, with increases in both new and used car sales in Singapore.

 

Jardine C& C delivered &ldquo resilient&rdquo performance despite challenging market conditions, said the company&rsquo s chairman John Witt in its earnings statement on Thursday (Feb 27).

 

&ldquo Looking ahead, we are confident the core businesses in our portfolio are well-positioned to benefit from strong mid and long-term prospects in their respective markets, as consumer sentiment recovers,&rdquo he said.