SINGAPORE - Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is divesting its entire stake in wholly-owned subsidiary ShareInvestor.com Holdings for $17 million, in a management buyout by ShareInvestor's chief executive officer Christopher Lee and chief operating officer Lim Dau Hee, together with several key managers and private investors.

The process is expected to be completed in mid-November. It will cease to be a subsidiary of SPH upon completion of the transaction.

Founded in 1999, ShareInvestor focuses on investor relations, market data and investor education.

SPH, which publishes The Business Times, acquired all the shares of ShareInvestor in November 2008 for between $12 million and $18 million in cash, depending on whether targets were hit. It did not disclose the final amount.

The net asset value of ShareInvestor as at Aug 31 is approximately $17 million.

The transaction is not expected to have a material effect on the net tangible assets per share or earnings per share of SPH for the financial year ending Aug 31, 2019.

Explaining the decision, Mr Lee said: "We seized the opportunity as we are fully confident of growing our services and regional footprint."

Moving ahead, ShareInvestor intends to continue its expansion into other Asian markets with its current suite of services. It will also upgrade its investor relations platform to allow public-listed clients to reach out to more investors globally.

It will also develop more thematic, investment-related education programmes that will supplement its existing events and platforms. These include Invest Fair, the Reits Symposium, the Investor-One website for Catalist companies and its publication, Inside Invest.

Mr Lee added that there will be no disruption to any of its services during the transition.