The interviewed small shareholder of OCBC Bank believes that the bank's decision to promote the privatization of CMC is beneficial for increasing the overall income of the group, and considers the current offer to be &#34;reasonable.&#34;
He said that the entire privatization process &#34;can always be improved in detail.&#34; &#34;But overall, the communication and process arrangements conducted through channels such as the shareholders' meeting are reasonable.&#34;
&#34;I looked at the price and thought it was acceptable. This proposed price is already higher than the final transaction price.&#34;
This shareholder excitedly told Lianhe Zaobao: &#34;OCBC previously said that SGD 25.6 was the final offer, and I was very scared, fearing that if it dragged on, I would get nothing.&#34;
However, Li Delong, a partner at Kennedys Law, told Lianhe Zaobao that OCBC's proposed value of SGD 30.15 constitutes a new offer and is not bound by previous statements.
<h3>&#34;Final Offer&#34; Only Applies to Current Proposal</h3>
A shareholder surnamed Guo (60 years old, retired) has held OCBC Bank shares since the mid-2000s. He said that the new proposed price is a reasonable adjustment compared to last year and reflects the current market conditions. &#34;If you look at the Straits Times Index, it has risen about 19% since May last year. So, in my view, the increase in the proposed price is fair.&#34;
&#34;The last price statement only applied to the delisting offer at that time. Nearly 12 months later, OCBC initiated a brand new exit proposal. Therefore, the binding effect of the 'final offer' will not extend to the new round of offers.&#34;
The Securities Industry Council recently suggested amending the provisions in the guidelines, including prohibiting the acquirer from making a bid or extending the deadline for a certain period after issuing a statement not to raise the offer.
A former employee of CMC in Malaysia, who now resides in Selangor and wished to remain anonymous, said in an interview that although he understands it is almost impossible to seek any form of compensation, he believes that the interests of small shareholders should at least be included in the overall consideration.
<h4>Extended Reading</h4>
In other words, if shareholders see the term &#34;final offer&#34; in similar cases in the future, they should regard it as applicable only to this proposal.
As for whether raising the offer price affects the bank's reputation, the interviewed shareholder surnamed Guo expressed no concerns. &#34;A group of small shareholders and I believe that if there were problems with the process, we would have sold our OCBC shares long ago, but we haven't. I don't think this will damage the reputation.&#34;
She revealed that around the year 2000, she was allowed to purchase shares at a preferential price as a high-performing employee. During the process of OCBC privatizing CMC, she also proposed a plan to exchange OCBC shares for CMC shares. &#34;But at that time, OCBC's stock price was once lower than CMC's, and I felt it was not worth it.&#34; She ultimately accepted the offer price of SGD 25.6 last year to sell all her holdings.
Another small shareholder surnamed Wang (60 years old, retired), who accepted last year's offer, appeared more calm during the interview. She pointed out that the cost of her holdings was generally below SGD 20, so selling at that time still yielded a profit
Great Eastern Holdings' privatization has been put back on the agenda. After OCBC Bank announced last year that it &#34;would not further increase the offer price,&#34; it has now raised the price by about 17% to SGD 30.15 per share, causing dissatisfaction among some minority shareholders who had accepted the previous offer. Lawyers interviewed pointed out that the new offer is legally a completely new proposal and is not bound by the previous no-increase statement.
They also noted that this is a business transaction, and whether to accept it should be decided by the shareholders themselves.
A former employee of Great Eastern Malaysia, who wished to remain anonymous, indicated that when seeing the term &#34;final offer,&#34; it was unclear that OCBC could actually make a new offer and price.
He also believes that if the Monetary Authority of Singapore or the Singapore Exchange noticed any governance issues, they would have intervened long ago.
It is understood that among the minority shareholders, those holding larger stakes include Wong Hong Sun and Lee Thor Seng and their families, collectively holding about 3% of Great Eastern; Malaysia's Sunway Berhad holds about 1%.
<img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://dss0.zbstatic5.com/s3fs-public/articles/2025/06/10/250611ONLINEGreat20Eastern20delisting20proposal.jpg/query-MTAxMg?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://dss0.zbstatic5.com/s3fs-public/articles/2025/06/10/250611ONLINEGreat20Eastern20delisting20proposal.jpg/query-MTAxMg"/>
The issue that raises fairness concerns is that OCBC Bank previously cited Clause 20.2 of the Takeover and Merger Code in its last offer, stating that it would not increase the final offer price of SGD 25.6.
Great Eastern Holdings will hold a special general meeting at 2 PM on July 8 to vote on a series of proposals. Among them, the delisting resolution must receive at least 75% support

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OCBC Bank announced that it "will not further increase the offer price," and then raised the price by about 17% to HKD 30.15 per share, leading to dissatisfaction among some minority shareholders. Great Eastern Holdings will hold a special shareholders' meeting on July 8 to vote on the delisting resolution. Minority shareholders believe the new offer is reasonable and reflects market conditions, but lawyers point out that the new offer is legally considered a completely new proposal and is not bound by previous statements

"Will not raise the offer price" then raised the price by 17% OCBC Bank's privatization plan for CMC sparks controversy