SINGAPORE - Japan’s Isetan Mitsukoshi is looking to take mainboard-listed Isetan Singapore private by fully acquiring all the shares it does not own, ending the department store operator’s four-decade run on the Singapore bourse.

The proposed privatisation will be achieved through a scheme of arrangement, with a consideration of $7.20 for each target share, the company said on April 1.

This implies a 37.4 per cent premium over the counter’s highest closing market price of $5.24 in the past five years. It also offers a 26.3 per cent premium over the highest intraday traded price of $5.70 over the same period.

The scheme consideration is 153.5 per cent higher than the company’s closing price of $2.84 on March 28, the last trading day. The company called for a trading halt on the morning of April 1.

It is also 173.4 per cent, 171.1 per cent, 168.9 per cent and 152.4 per cent above Isetan Singapore’s volume-weighted average price for the one-month, three-month, six-month and 12-month periods, respectively.

Isetan Mitsukoshi is the holding company for Mitsukoshi and Isetan department stores. It owned a 52.73 per cent interest in the company as at March 17, 2023, according to Isetan Singapore’s annual report. The scheme will require in-principle approval from the Singapore Exchange for the scheme document and proposed delisting, along with a sanction of the scheme by the Singapore High Court.

It will also need majority approval, representing three-fourths of value of the shareholders present and voting at a scheme meeting to be convened at the direction of the court. THE BUSINESS TIMES