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On April 24, 2026, SHS Holdings released an announcement regarding an EGM requisitioned by a group of ten shareholders holding approximately 23.50% of the company's shares. |
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Company |
Period |
Cash & Cash Equivalents |
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Valuetronics |
31 Mar 2025 (FY2025) |
HK$1,093.8 million |
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China Aviation Oil |
31 Dec 2025 (FY2025) |
US$687 million |
|
Venture Corporation |
31 Dec 2025 (FY2025) |
~S$1.28–1.29 billion |
|
China Sunsine Chemical |
31 Dec 2025 (FY2025) |
RMB 2,328.9 million (~S$430–450M equiv.) |
|
HL Global Enterprises |
31 Dec 2025 (FY2025) |
S$63.5 million |
This buy-back proposal -- which will cost about $10.3 million versus the company's $68 million cash balance -- stands out for several unprecedented reasons:
1. A Shareholder-Driven Initiative
Historically, equal access buybacks have been initiated top-down by the Board of Directors.
This marks the first time we are seeing a strictly shareholders-driven initiative for this type of exercise -- major investors taking matters into their own hands to unlock value.
SHS CEO Henry Ng (left) with substantial shareholder Robert Stone. File picTwo of the signing shareholders are SHS substantial shareholders and well-known in the market for their stakes in several other companies: Robert Stone (holding 8.6%) and Thomas Clive Khoo (7.46%)
2. A Substantial, Yet Strategic, Premium
The proposed 50% premium on the Equal Access Offer is high compared to recent SGX market precedents.
For context, the highest recorded premium recently was 20% by OUE during its May 2024 equal access buyback.
| "We estimate that the total cost of the offer, if fully accepted, would be approximately S$10,376,008, which the Company can comfortably fund while maintaining adequate liquidity for operations and solvency requirements. As at 30 June 2025, the Group's cash and cash equivalents stood at S$38.14 million. Following the disposal of the company's entire stake in SED Energy Holdings PLC (announced completed on 24 March 2026 for approximately S$28,800,000) and the receipt, of a cash dividend of approximately S$981,000 paid out on 24 February 2026, the Company's cash position has strengthened significantly to nearly S$68 million (approximately S$0.111 per share)." -- Requisitioning shareholders |
While Sarine Technologies executed a buyback in 2023 at an even higher 36% premium, that exercise was only for a mere 1.15% of its issued shares, rather than a full 10% structural buyback.
However, despite this 50% premium over the last traded price, the S$0.17 target is still significantly below the company’s estimated book NAV of about 23 cents per share.
This suggests the shareholders have carefully calculated a price that provides an attractive premium for sellers while still creating fundamental NAV accretion for the company.
While they estimated that SHS has S$68 million cash (see quote box), the company has debt too -- according to the last set of financial results, the total debt stood at ~$47 million as at 30 June 2025.
The SHS Board of Directors will provide updates as material developments occur on this proposal.
Interestingly, there is no cap in the company's bye-laws regarding the premium for any equal access buyback, according to a market participant. This structural flexibility is what makes such a bold proposal possible. More importantly, this exercise could serve as a powerful catalyst across the broader market, inspiring retail and institutional investors in other companies to decide if a similar shareholder-driven path might be a suitable course toward value creation in their own portfolios. The potential targets are cash-rich companies like Valuetronics, China Aviation Oil, Venture, China Sunsine, HL Global, etc, which have zero or minimal debt, says an analyst. See table:
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