BEC - Becton ponders privatisation
October 24, 2008 12:00am
TROUBLED listed property group Becton is considering its future, with privatisation or a sale on the cards.
"We need to reassess whether being listed is the right structure for our company," Becton chief executive Matthew Chun told Business Daily.
"There's a wide range of options which we can't go into but we will inform the market in due course."
Mr Chun also revealed Becton had received offers for parts or the whole of the company.
"We've had inquiries," he said. "In this market we consider all approaches, to keep our options open."
Becton's share price has plummeted by more than 50 per cent over the past week and closed yesterday down 9.7 per cent at 14.
Over the past year the share price dived more than 90 per cent as investors fled the troubled listed property sector.
Mr Chun said there were "a number of factors" behind the company's beating on the bourse, including sector giant GPT's announcement yesterday it was trying to raise at least $1.6 billion in new capital.
"The GPT announcement upset the whole market," he said.
"They're expecting us to come out and raise capital at half our share price, which is what GPT has done."
He said Becton stock had been sold down by investors who held shares in both companies and wanted to participate in GPT's raising.
"We're very much out of favour with the share market."
He said the company was concentrating on reducing debt.
Since the start of the year, the company has paid off $281 million in debt and Mr Chun said the company was complying with all covenants over the remaining $556 million.
"Our current focus is to sell our inventory to free up our balance sheet.
"The underlying operations of the business continue to meet their operational targets.
"That is the key to reducing our debt and producing cash flows."
But he conceded the company had been hurt by the below-par performance of a portfolio it last year plucked from the carcass of collapsed developer Estate Property Group.
Becton paid $534 million for the apartment blocks and development sites, which were initially funded by EPG's sister mortgage fund Australian Capital Reserve.
"The apartments have gone more or less to plan," Mr Chun said.
"The development sites have been more difficult than we anticipated -- but no one expected the credit crisis.
"At this stage we don't expect to see the profit we expected."
Becton stock climbed as high as $2.02 in mid-May.
source:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24542895-664,00.html
October 24, 2008 12:00am
TROUBLED listed property group Becton is considering its future, with privatisation or a sale on the cards.
"We need to reassess whether being listed is the right structure for our company," Becton chief executive Matthew Chun told Business Daily.
"There's a wide range of options which we can't go into but we will inform the market in due course."
Mr Chun also revealed Becton had received offers for parts or the whole of the company.
"We've had inquiries," he said. "In this market we consider all approaches, to keep our options open."
Becton's share price has plummeted by more than 50 per cent over the past week and closed yesterday down 9.7 per cent at 14.
Over the past year the share price dived more than 90 per cent as investors fled the troubled listed property sector.
Mr Chun said there were "a number of factors" behind the company's beating on the bourse, including sector giant GPT's announcement yesterday it was trying to raise at least $1.6 billion in new capital.
"The GPT announcement upset the whole market," he said.
"They're expecting us to come out and raise capital at half our share price, which is what GPT has done."
He said Becton stock had been sold down by investors who held shares in both companies and wanted to participate in GPT's raising.
"We're very much out of favour with the share market."
He said the company was concentrating on reducing debt.
Since the start of the year, the company has paid off $281 million in debt and Mr Chun said the company was complying with all covenants over the remaining $556 million.
"Our current focus is to sell our inventory to free up our balance sheet.
"The underlying operations of the business continue to meet their operational targets.
"That is the key to reducing our debt and producing cash flows."
But he conceded the company had been hurt by the below-par performance of a portfolio it last year plucked from the carcass of collapsed developer Estate Property Group.
Becton paid $534 million for the apartment blocks and development sites, which were initially funded by EPG's sister mortgage fund Australian Capital Reserve.
"The apartments have gone more or less to plan," Mr Chun said.
"The development sites have been more difficult than we anticipated -- but no one expected the credit crisis.
"At this stage we don't expect to see the profit we expected."
Becton stock climbed as high as $2.02 in mid-May.
source:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24542895-664,00.html
. I had a fair bit of slippage on entry as well just to make matters worse, my fault as I should of set the max buy price lower.
