The Straits Times / The Business Times News on OSIM

OSIM boss reaps $39M from share sale

THE boss of massage-chair maker OSIM International, Mr Ron Sim, is sitting pretty after cashing in part of his stake after the company recently reported handsome profits.

OSIM shares are trading at their highest levels in 12 months, making it the perfect time for him to place out 25 million of his shares to what was described in an announcement yesterday as 'global institutional investors'.

OSIM yesterday told the Singapore Exchange that the vendor sale was done with the help of investment house JPMorgan Securities, without revealing any details of the buyers.

The last time Mr Sim offloaded his shares in a big way was in October 2003.

OSIM yesterday said the latest placement reduced Mr Sim's shareholding in OSIM, direct and deemed, to 235.35 million shares, representing 52.44 per cent of issued share capital.

The transaction was valued at $39 million, or $1.56 a share, a discount of 4.9 per cent to yesterday's closing price of $1.64 - which was a 12-month high for OSIM shares.

Mr Sim will remain the single largest shareholder of OSIM, which in April led a consortium involving Temasek Capital in a US$456 million (S$780 million) acquisition of American retailer Brookstone.

That deal was completed early last month, about three weeks before OSIM said that its third-quarter net profit surged 49 per cent to $10.4 million from the same period a year ago.