Singapore Press Holdings

Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPHL) was an organisation with businesses in property and aged care in Singapore. Since its takeover by Cuscaden Peak in 2022, it has been renamed Cuscaden Peak Investments.

Prior to 1 December 2021, SPHL was in the media business as well with a reach in the print, digital, radio, and outdoor media. It formed part of a duopoly on the mass media of Singapore, with the other player being Mediacorp. SPHL had over 4,000 employees, including a team of approximately 1,000 journalists, including correspondents operating around the world. 2,500 of the staff, including the journalists and its media business were subsequently transferred to SPH Media Trust.

The company was one of the country's "blue-chip" counters on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX) until its delisting on 13 May 2022 following its acquisition by Cuscaden Peak. It was also a constituent of the Straits Times Index until its removal on 22 June 2020.

History

1984: Formation of Singapore Press Holdings

Singapore Press Holdings Limited was formed on 4 August 1984 through a merger of three organisations, The Straits Times Press Group, Singapore News and Publications Limited and Times Publishing Berhad.

On 8 June 2000, SPH MediaWorks was set up with the aim of breaking into the broadcasting business, and received Singapore's second nationwide free-to-air terrestrial television broadcasting service licence on 26 April 2001. SPHL soon afterwards launched two channels, ''Channel U'' (Mandarin) on 6 May 2001 and ''TVWorks'' (English) on 20 May 2001. On 3 March 2002, ''TVWorks'' was renamed to ''Channel i'' with a new programming belt.

On 31 December 2004, SPHL sold its television operation to Mediacorp, restoring Mediacorp's former monopoly status. ''Channel i'' was shut down on 1 January 2005, but ''Channel U'' continues to operate. Through a merger, SPHL retained a 20% stake in Mediacorp's television operational, as well as 40% stake in Today newspaper.

The National Library Board and SPHL signed an agreement in 2007 to make digitised articles of ''The Straits Times'' available for public access at NLB libraries. The digitised articles were made available at NewspaperSG and was launched on 28 January 2010.

In 2009, SPHL celebrated its 25th anniversary and for the first time, changed its corporate logo. The new logo was launched on 30 March that year by former President S. R. Nathan and chairman Tony Tan Keng Yam.

In 2013, SPHL acquired sgCarMart.

On 29 September 2017, SPHL completed its sale of its stakes in Mediacorp's television operational, and ''Today.'' Mediacorp Press and Mediacorp TV Holdings ceased to be associated companies of SPHL.

In November 2019, SPHL stopped publishing ''Torque'', a motoring publication, and moved its operation digital while parking it under its subsidiary, sgCarMart.

On 27 April 2020, SPHL divested Buzz, a modern retail convenience chain, to Thai-Pore Enterprise for an undisclosed sum. Buzz was previously a wholly owned subsidiary under SPH.

On 22 June 2020, SPHL was removed from the Straits Times Index (STI), which tracks 30 of the largest companies by market capitalisation listed on the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange after a quarterly review of the constituents of the STI announced on 5 June that year. It was replaced by Mapletree Industrial Trust.

On 13 October 2020, SPHL, which published ''The Straits Times'' and '' The Business Times'', posted a net loss of $83.7 million for the full year. The loss was attributed to COVID-19 which affected all major business segments.

On 1 February 2021, SPHL's events subsidiary Sphere Exhibits merged with Temasek's SingEx Holdings.

2021: Hiving off the media business

SPHL's readership has stagnated since the early-2000s, as Singaporeans increasingly turned to online media for their news consumption. On 6 May 2021, SPHL in response to shareholder pressures, had proposed that it would restructure itself and transfer its media business into a company limited by guarantee (CLG), which would be privately managed. The new CLG will be initially managed by SPHL current management shareholders: OCBC Bank, Great Eastern, United Overseas Bank, DBS Bank, Singtel, NTUC Income, Temasek, the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University, while still having to issue new management shares of the media business under the CLG as required by Newspaper and Printing Presses Act. The government would also lift the shareholder limits on the currently listed SPHL entity. Khaw Boon Wan, a retired politician, who has a reputation of being a fixer, was appointed as the chairman of the CLG.

On 10 September 2021, an extraordinary general meeting was convened over the restructuring proposal to transfer all media business-related assets and staff to SPH Media Trust. Approximately 97.55% of the 300 shareholders present voted in favour of the proposal. The transfer was completed on 1 December 2021. The assets transferred included its headquarters, the News Center, and its press, the Print Center, as well as all intellectual property and information technology assets. Along with the assets transfer, 2,500 staff were transferred to SPH Media Trust as well.

2022–present

On 28 February 2022, consortium led by Toyota Financial Services Singapore acquired sgCarMart for .

Following its acquisition by Cuscaden Peak, SPHL was delisted from the Singapore Exchange on 13 May 2022.

Ownership

Prior to 1 December 2021, like all newspaper companies in Singapore, SPHL was regulated by the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act (NPPA) of 1974 and issues both management and ordinary shares. As specified by the NPPA, all issues and transfers of management shares have to be approved by the Ministry of Communications and Information, and in "any resolution relating to the appointment or dismissal of a director or any member of the staff" the vote of one management share is equivalent to 200 ordinary shares.

There are close ties between the directors of SPHL and the Singapore Government. S. R. Nathan, Director of the Security and Intelligence Division and later President of Singapore served as SPHL's Executive chairman from 1982 to 1988 and the first President (1994–2002) of SPHL was Tjong Yik Min, former chief of the Internal Security Department. The immediate former Chairman of SPHL, Tony Tan was Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore from 1994 to 2005 and President of Singapore from 2011 to 2017.

Former cabinet minister and chairman of Keppel Corporation Dr Lee Boon Yang is the current chairman of Singapore Press Holdings. Former Chief of Defence Force and CEO of Neptune Orient Lines Limited Ng Yat Chung is the current CEO since 1 September 2017.

After 1 December 2021, the regulations would have been lifted due to the completion of the transfer of its media business into SPH Media Trust.

Owners of ordinary share

99.9% ordinary shares were held by the public. According to the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act:

(3) No person shall, on or after 2nd September 2002, enter into any agreement or arrangement, whether oral or in writing and whether express or implied, to act together with any other person with respect to the acquisition, holding or disposal of, or the exercise of rights in relation to, their interests in voting shares of an aggregate of more than 5% of the total votes attached to all voting shares in a newspaper company without first obtaining the approval of the Minister.

Thus, by ordinary share, there is no controlling shareholder. The current "largest" shareholders are The Vanguard Group (2.5%), Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (1.7%), Norges Bank Investment Management (1.5%), Lee Foundation (1.4%), BlackRock Fund Advisors (1.1%). Other private companies and individuals owned less than 1% of the ordinary share each.

Owners of management share

The management shareholders as of September 2021 were nominally the founding members of SPH Media Trust as well.

Businesses

Properties

SPHL owns retail properties Paragon, The Clementi Mall and The Seletar Mall. SPH's wholly owned subsidiary, Times Development Pte Ltd, has also developed a 43-storey upmarket residential condominium, Sky@eleven, at Thomson Road.

SPH REIT

SPH REIT is a Singapore-based REIT established to invest in a portfolio of income-producing real estate primarily for retail purposes. SPH REIT comprises three retail malls and one strip mall, The Paragon, The Clementi Mall, The Rail Mall, and Westfield Marion. Paragon is a prime retail and office complex in the heart of Orchard Road, Singapore's main shopping belt. The Clementi Mall is a mid-market suburban mall in the centre of Clementi town. In December 2019, SPH REIT acquired 50% ownership in Westfield Marion from Scentre Group.

M1 Limited

In February 2019, it was announced that Keppel Corporation and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) had together obtained majority control of telco M1, after Axiata accepted their joint offer of $2.06 a share for a 28.6 per cent stake. Later in March 2019, the telco said that Konnectivity, a company owned jointly by the two companies, would buy all of its remaining shares.

MindChamps

SPHL has a 26.84 per cent stake in SGX listed preschool and enrichment provider MindChamps.

Orange Valley

SPHL owns Orange Valley which operates nursing homes.

FastJobs

SPHL owns and operates mobile application and job portal FastJobs.

References

External links

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{{FTSE STI constituents
1984 establishments in Singapore

Publishing companies established in 1984
Mass media companies established in 1984
Companies formerly listed on the Singapore Exchange
Singaporean brands
2022 mergers and acquisitions
Publishing companies disestablished in 2021
Mass media companies disestablished in 2021
Holding companies of Singapore