Sogo department store operator to delist in December as shareholders approve tycoon Thomas Lau’s privatisation offer
- Nearly 95 per cent of independent shareholders voted in favour of Lifestyle International’s HK$1.88 billion (US$239 million) privatisation scheme
- The company will be delisted on December 20, ending its stint as a listed entity after 18 years
Tycoon Thomas Lau Luen-hung’s HK$1.88 billion (US$239 million) move to privatise the company received 94.93 per cent of votes in favour while 5.07 per cent rejected it, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Monday. The scheme requires 75 per cent of approval and no more than 10 per cent of dissent to pass.
The last day of the stock’s trading will be on December 6 and it will be delisted on December 20, the filing said.
The company’s shares closed 4.5 per cent higher at HK$4.90 on Monday before the voting result, close to the privatisation offer of HK$5 per share.
The offer price represented a 62.3 per cent premium over the stock’s closing price of HK$3.08 on August 4 before trading was halted for the announcement.
The privatisation will not have any material change to the company’s existing businesses, which will continue to employ existing employees, it said in August. Lau, however, planned “to diversify the business model and make new investments when the opportunities arise”.
The department store, which has branches in Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Shui, has been a major attraction for tourists, particularly shoppers from mainland China. The social unrest in mid-2019 and the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic since 2020 has led to a slump in visitors including those from the mainland, affecting its sales.
Listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2004, Lifestyle International has seen its turnover decline since 2019. While sales rose 9.9 per cent in 2021 from a year earlier, that represented only 53 per cent of the volume recorded in 2018, according to its exchange filing.
