TODAY'S HEADLINE

TAT HONG ISSUES 70M SHARES, RAISES $82.1M
Proceeds being used by crane operator to meet high demand for its services

Crane operator Tat Hong Holdings has raised $82.1 million in net proceeds through a private stock placement to keep up with strong demand for its services.

Tat Hong said yesterday that it had issued 70 million new shares, or 13.9 per cent of its pre'deal issued share capital, at $1.20 apiece. The placement price was a 7.7 per cent discount to the stock's closing price of $1.30 on Tuesday, and a 9 per cent discount to the volume'weighted average share price for that day. Tat Hong shares slipped two cents to close at $1.28 yesterday.

A source close to the deal said "the shares were placed primarily to Asia'based, long'only funds, with additional participation from hedge funds and other accredited investors".

On a pro'forma basis, using numbers for the 'scal year ended March 31, net asset value per share would have increased to $1 from 98 cents, Tat Hong said. Earnings per share would have declined to 6.95 cents from 7.42 cents.

"As the largest crane company in the Asia Paci'c, Tat Hong is in a unique position to bene't from the tremendous growth opportunities present in the booming infrastructure, construction and engineering, oil and gas, and resources sectors in the Asia'Paci'c region," Tat Hong managing director Roland Ng said in a statement. "The placement is timely as the proceeds will be used to expand our crane 'eet to meet rental demand, acquire land and buildings in Singapore and Malaysia to house our expanded cane 'eet and operations and for general corporate funding purposes.

We note that Tat Hong is currently trading at near its 52'week high of S$1.34. We do not have a rating on Tat Hong.

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Source: The Business times

Source: AmFraser