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An employee walks past an Overseas Union Enterprise (OUE) logo at its office building in Singapore in this October 23, 2012 file photo. A hotel and property firm controlled by Indonesia's Lippo Group launched a S$13.1 billion ($10.7 billion) bid for Fraser and Neave Ltd, trumping a takeover offer from Thailand's third-richest man for the Singapore conglomerate. A consortium led by OUE is offering S$9.08 ($7.40) per share for F&N, OUE said in a statement on November 15, 2012 beating the Thai offer of S$8.88 ($7.25) a share.
An employee walks past an Overseas Union Enterprise (OUE) logo at its office building in Singapore in this October 23, 2012 file photo. A hotel and property firm controlled by Indonesia's Lippo Group launched a S$13.1 billion ($10.7 billion) bid for Fraser and Neave Ltd, trumping a takeover offer from Thailand's third-richest man for the Singapore conglomerate. A consortium led by OUE is offering S$9.08 ($7.40) per share for F&N, OUE said in a statement on November 15, 2012 beating the Thai offer of S$8.88 ($7.25) a share.
(Edgar Su/Reuters)

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Singapore should nail down timetable on F&N bids

 — Financial Times

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Fight! Fight! Playground fights and shareholders egging on bid battles have a lot in common. Southeast Asia’s biggest cross-border battle, for Singapore’s Fraser & Neave, should be a punchy crowd pleaser. But it risks being a drawn-out disaster.

That would be bad for F&N’s shareholders and for Singapore’s standing as an alternative to Hong Kong. This week TCC Assets, a vehicle of the Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, extended its offer of $8.88 ($7.20) a share for F&N to Dec. 11. That takes it five days past the deadline for OUE – the counter-bidder with links to Indonesia’s Lippo Group and the Riady family – to publish its $9.08 full offer. But in doing that, Mr. Charoen has passed Singapore’s 60-day deadline, where bids lapse after a full offer is published. Neither TCC nor Singapore’s Securities Industry Council (SIC), the takeover guardian, has explained why. Probably, as happens elsewhere, TCC’s timetable has been reset to match OUE’s to make it fairer for shareholders comparing offers.