Two of Singapore’s largest listed maritime companies were among the most active in share buybacks in the third quarter, latest figures show.
Keppel Corp and Yangzijiang Financial were the second and fourth largest buyers of their own shares, according to data from the Singapore Exchange.
Singapore commodity giant and major charterer Wilmar was the biggest buyer of its own shares during the quarter purchasing 34.6m shares, or just over 1% of its outstanding shares, in deals worth SGD 140.5m ($98.5m).
Keppel Corp acquired just over 19m shares, 2.7% of its outstanding shares, paying an average of SGD 7.15 per share in purchases worth a total of SGD 136.2m.
Yangzijiang Financial spent an average of SGD 0.382 per share to buy back a total of 192m shares for a total outlay of SGD 73.3m.
As well as being among the major buyers of their own shares in the third quarter. Keppel Corp and Yangzijiang Financial have also led the buyback consideration tally for the first nine months of 2022.
“The month of July 2022 saw the least monthly buyback consideration filed for Singapore’s primary-listed stocks since July 2021, which was a seasonal effect leading into seasonal semi-annual reporting,” SGX said.
“The following month of August 2022 saw the highest buyback consideration filed since the comparatively more volatile conditions of March 2020.”
Keppel Corp announced in January 2022 that it had established an SGD 500m share buyback program enabling it to “purchase its shares when such shares may be undervalued due to market conditions”
Shares repurchased under the buyback program will be held as treasury shares and could possibly be used as currency for future merger and acquisition (M&A) activities.
“As Keppel embarks on acquisitions, especially of founders’ platforms, using shares as acquisition currency would help ensure that the founders of such platforms have vested interests in the long-term success of Keppel, thereby aligning their interests with Keppel’s interests,” it said.
Yangzijiang Financial announced in June that it had established an SGD 200m share buyback program in a bid to increase shareholders’ value and improve the return of equity of the group.
The company was spun off from parent company Yangzijiang Shipbuilding in April this year and listed separately on the SGX.
