SIA shares fall 4.5% after report of Temasek selling 1.85% stake in airline

A report of a share sale by state investment company Temasek sent shares of Singapore Airlines (SIA) tumbling on Friday. SIA’s top investor is selling around $400m worth of shares, or a 1.85% stake, in the national carrier, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The shares are priced between $7.202 and $7.283 apiece, representing a 3.97% and 2.89% discount respectively to the last close of $7.50 on the Singapore Exchange on Wednesday, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters. Temasek will continue to be a major shareholder in SIA with a 53.5% stake, according to Reuters’ calculations. SIA shares fell when trading began on Friday. At 10.29am, they were down 34 cents, or 4.5%, to $7.16. The stock was the most heavily traded by value, with 69.4m shares changing hands. “As an active investor, we regularly reshape and rebalance our portfolio to deliver sustainable returns over the long term,” Juliet Teo, Temasek’s head of transportation and logistics, said in an e-mailed statement in response to a Reuters query on the sale. “We are committed to the long-term success of SIA and continue to maintain a majority stake in it,” she added. As at Wednesday, SIA shares have rallied 35.6% in 2023 as profits surged after three years of losses. In May, the carrier reported its highest-ever annual net profit of $2.16b for the year ended March as travel rebounded following the Covid-19 pandemic.<br/>