WBL / United Engineers

WBL / United Engineers: both counters resume trading this morning. UE raises WBL offer price from $4.00 to $4.15 a share, valuing WBL at $1.19b, as UE shareholders approve the bid. This comes after UE’s partners exchanged $12.8m of WBL convertible bonds into 5.6m new shares at $2.29 each, triggering an SGX technicality rule requiring UE to raise its offer price. The UE consortium now holds a combined 39.5% stake in WBL from 38.3% previously. UE will fund the deal with available cash, term-loan; signs term loan pact with OCBC. UE, a construction, property and engineering group, had made the offer for WBL as part of a transformational growth strategy. UE said that it will gain a steady stream of recurring earnings from WBL's car segment, and can tap on WBL's significant China property portfolio. UE’s latest offer compares with KPMG’s independent valuation of WBL at btwn $4.56 - $5.30 a share. Recall rival Straits Trading, which holds 40.5% of WBL, allowed its competing $3.36 offer to lapse on 1 Mar. WBL shares last traded at $4.14 yday. Just shortly before that, the firm reported a 74.3% plunge in 1QFYSep13 due to lower contributions from its property and technology divisions and higher corporate expenses. Net profit dropped from $23.7m to $6.1m, despite a slight rise in turnover to $683.3m.