Zheneng Jinjiang's top shareholder offers to take company private in $782 million deal

Sept 29 (Reuters) - Zheneng Jinjiang Environment's ZHEN.SI top shareholder, Zhejiang Provincial Energy Group, offered on Tuesday to take the Singapore-listed waste-to-energy firm private in a deal valuing it at about S$1.0 billion ($782 million).

The offer of S$0.70 per share in cash represents a 29.6% premium to Zheneng Jinjiang's closing price on September 24. In place of cash, Zhejiang Provincial also offered shares.

Chinese state-backed Zhejiang Provincial and its units, which supply nearly half of the electricity consumed in Zhejiang Province, are the top shareholder of Zheneng Jinjiang holding a near 30% stake, the companies said in a joint statement.

Zhejiang Provincial said privatization and delisting would give management more flexibility to run the business, noting the company had not tapped equity markets for funds since 2018.

Zheneng Jinjiang's board recommended a special dividend of S$0.045 per share, which totals to S$64.6 million in capital return to shareholders.

($1 = 1.2785 Singapore dollars)