KARACHI: Singer Pakistan Ltd will merge with Cool Industries Ltd, which produces home appliances under the brand name of Waves, a stock notice said on Monday.

The name of the post-merger company will be Waves Singer Pakistan Ltd.

Singer is listed on the stock exchange. It is engaged in retailing and trading of domestic consumer appliances and other light engineering products, including sewing and washing machines, generators, gas appliances, cooling products, audio and video products and even motorcycles.

A company official claimed earlier that the company, which has been operational in the subcontinent since 1877, had the largest retail network in South Asia with over 750 stores.

Cool Industries, established in 1973, is a private limited company engaged in the manufacture of home appliances, including deep freezers, refrigerators, air conditioners, vacuum cleaners, food processors and washing machines.

Its manufacturing facilities are located on Multan Road in Lahore.

With 9,750 shares changing hands, the stock of Singer shed Rs1.34 on Monday to close at Rs39.40.

The company’s board of directors has approved the draft of the Scheme of Arrangement, subject to necessary approvals, the notice said.

According to the scheme, Cool Industries will merge with and into Singer against which 94 million shares will be issued to the shareholders of Cool Industries. It will be based on a swap ratio of 1.79 shares for each share of Cool Industries.

Secondly, Link Wel Ltd (LWL) will be merged with and into Singer. Shareholders of LWL will be issued shares of Singer. It will be based on a swap ratio of 0.33 shares of Singer for every share of LWL.

More significantly, the retail business of Singer will be demerged from the company and merged with and into its wholly owned subsidiary, Electronics Marketing Company Ltd, which will issue 24.8m shares in favour of the company.

Singer last came into the public glare on Jan 21, 2016 when its Amsterdam-based parent entity with a holding of 70.28pc announced that it was selling its entire stake in the company.

The company explained that its divestment was a policy decision of Singer Asia Ltd, indicating that its departure was not Pakistan-specific. The company did not disclose the sale price per share.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2017