KUALA LUMPUR (Sep 28): Axiata Group Bhd’s 28.69%-owned Singapore associate M1 Ltd saw its share price jump 48 cents or 29.45% today to close at S$2.11.

This is higher than the S$2.06 a share that Keppel Corp Ltd and Singapore Press Holdings Ltd (SPH) are offering in a bid to buy M1 shares that they don’t already own.

Today’s closing price values M1, Singapore’s third biggest mobile phone operator, at S$1.95 billion, as against S$1.92 billion based on the offer price.

The sudden spike in M1’s share price today raises concern on the success of the takeover bid by Keppel Corp and SPH as M1 shareholders can get higher returns by divesting their shares in the open market.

Keppel Telecommunication & Transportation Ltd (KT&T), which owns a 19.33% stake in M1, saw its share price rise 50 cents or 36.76% to close at S$1.86 today, giving it a market capitalisation of S$1.05 billion.

Keppel Corp’s share price, however, fell 20 cents or 2.79% to S$6.96  with a market capitalisation of S$12.65 billion. Keppel Corp owns 79% of KT&T.

Meanwhile, SPH’s share price rose eight cents or 2.87% to close at S$2.87, valuing the group at S$4.59 billion.

In Malaysia, Axiata declined 17 sen or 3.59% to RM4.56, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM41.36 billion.

Yesterday, Keppel Corp and SPH jointly announced the offer to buy out all the shares in M1 that they do not own. The pre-conditional offer requires approvals from Singapore’s Info-communications Media Development Authority.

The offer is also conditional upon the offerors obtaining more than a 50% stake in M1.

The offer price represents a 26% premium over the last traded price of S$1.63 before M1 was suspended from trading early this week.