“In July 2005, the group made a strategic decision to divest its entire hotel business to Colony HR Acquisitions, LLC,
an affiliate of Colony Capital, LLC, for an enterprise value
of S$1.72 billion and achieved a gain of S$643.4 million.
This disposal created and unlocked significant value for shareholders.”
Ms Jennie Chua
President and CEO, Raffles Holdings Limited

Looking Back
Raffles Holdings Limited was incepted in 1995 as an investment holding company for its hotel and resort investments. History could be traced back to 1979 when a consortium developed the Raffles City Complex, comprising Raffles City Convention Centre, the Raffles City Tower, Raffles City Shopping Centre, and two hotel properties. The project was completed in 1986.

In 1989, Raffles International, a subsidiary of Raffles Holdings Limited, successfully restored and redeveloped the grand historic Raffles Hotel, which is today an important landmark of Singapore. By the time it was listed on the mainboard of the Singapore Stock Exchange in December 1999, the group was recognised as Singapore’s leading luxury hotels and resorts owner with 2,626 deluxe hotel rooms and suites in Singapore, and 3,238 rooms worldwide.

Under the strong leadership of its directors and management, the hotel business grew rapidly and by 2005, the group had a collection of 39 hotels, of which 31 were in operation. Of these 39 hotels, 14 were majority-owned or leased.

Creating and Unlocking Shareholders’ Value
In July 2005, the group made a strategic decision to divest its entire hotel business to Colony HR Acquisitions, LLC, an affiliate of Colony Capital, LLC, for an enterprise value of S$1.72 billion and achieved a gain of S$643.4 million. This disposal created and unlocked significant value for shareholders.

After the sale of the hotel business, the remaining business of the group was its 45% interest in its associated company, Tincel Properties (Private) Limited (“TPPL”), which owned the Raffles City Complex and the contract to manage the complex.

In September 2006, the group further enhanced and unlocked shareholders’ value when TPPL sold the Raffles City Complex to CapitaCommercial Trust and CapitaMall Trust at a property purchase price of S$2.085 billion. As a result of the sale, the group’s share of results of TPPL for 2006 increased significantly to S$483.6 million, more than 10 times over financial year 2005.

Raffles City, Singapore

The group achieved a PATMI from Continuing Operations of S$500.4 million in financial year 2006, an improvement of more than 14 times over financial year 2005. This was mainly due to the increase in share of results of TPPL as well as higher interest income earned.

In October 2006, Raffles Holdings returned substantially all its cash to shareholders via the payment of a special interim dividend of S$0.33 per share and a capital reduction of S$0.37 per share. The total cash distributed amounted to S$1.5 billion.

Delisting
Following the strategic disposals of the hotel business and the Raffles City Complex, and the cash distribution, the group no longer had any material assets or businesses. Raffles Holdings was voluntarily delisted from the official list of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (“SGX-ST”) on 13 December 2006.