Rajah & Tann, Stamford Law, King & Wood and Clifford Chance have acted on the first proposed takeover of a listed business trust in Singapore – a US$225m joint venture between Japan’s Mitsui & Co and Singapore Hyflux to develop a substantial water treatment business in Mainland China.

Under the terms of agreement signed in August, the new joint venture company, Galaxy NewSpring agreed to acquire 21 existing water treatment, management and recycling operations in China, currently owned by Hyflux and its Singapore-listed subsidiary Hyflux Water Trust (HWT).

The transaction is significant as this is the first proposed takeover of a listed business trust in Singapore since business trusts were first introduced in 2004.

Galaxy has now completed the acquisition of four of the existing operations directly from Hyflux. Galaxy has also made an offer to acquire all the publicly held units of HWT as part of the transaction, which is expected to complete before the end of the year and will result in the acquisition of the remaining 17 existing operations.

“Water supply is vital for regional development in the years ahead and efficient management and recycling operations are critical to ensure the best use is made of scarce resources,” said Clifford Chance lead partner advising Mitsui & Co, Lee Taylor.

 “This project unites the skills of two leading Asian companies in this sector to develop a significant water supply business focused on China’s fast-developing provinces, such as Hebei and Jiangsu,” he said.

The Clifford Chance team led by partner Lee Taylor advised Mitsui & Co while Rajah & Tann acted for Hyflux and Stamford Law acted for the consortium on the Exit Offer here in Singapore. In China, Mitsui engaged King & Wood.ALB

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