China's Hopu teams up to take Singapore's Perennial Real Estate private

SINGAPORE, June 15 (Reuters) - Chinese buyout firm Hopu is partnering with key shareholders of Perennial Real Estate Holdings, including Wilmar International and its CEO, to take Perennial private in a deal that values it at S$1.58 billion ($1.13 billion).

The consortium, which includes firms owned by entrepreneur Ron Sim and Perennial's CEO, said late on Friday that the offer comes at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has roiled the global economy.

Perennial is a Singapore-listed real estate and healthcare firm.

The acquirer said it has secured undertakings from about 82% of Perennial's shareholders, and that Hopu will provide funding to purchase the rest of Perennial's shares from the non-consortium shareholders.

"Perennial will require a significant amount of capital to pursue its growth objectives in China through investments in large-scale integrated development projects," it said.

Perennial's China assets under development accounted for about 42% of its total property portfolio value as of end-2019.

"By privatising Perennial together with Hopu, the consortium believes Perennial will be able to secure a new long-term capital partner and tap on the track record and experience of HOPU and its affiliates," the consortium said, referring to Hopu Fund Management Company Ltd.

The consortium's S$0.95 per share offer price represents a nearly 38% premium to Perennial's closing share price of June 9.

United Overseas Bank is the lead financial adviser to the acquirer and DBS is the financial adviser. ($1 = 1.3937 Singapore dollars) (Reporting by Anshuman Daga; Editing by Himani Sarkar)