Shares of Sun Hung Kai Properties might fall 20 per cent further, in the worst-case scenario resulting from the anti-corruption investigation into the tycoon brothers who run the firm, Daiwa Capital Markets says.
That would occur if new and more serious charges were raised against joint chairmen Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), Daiwa property analyst Jonas Kan wrote in a report dated yesterday.
In anticipation of a conclusion to the investigation in the coming weeks, Daiwa outlined four scenarios for the outcome and its impact on SHKP's stock price.
'Given the reputational damage that the incident is causing for the individuals, we think it is reasonable to expect the ICAC to make a decision as to whether to formally charge them or not in the not-too-distant future,' Kan said in the report.
The Sunday Morning Post had reported that all nine people out on bail in connection with the ICAC's probe into allegations of bribery and misconduct in public office relating to SHKP will report back to the anti-graft agency on July 13, by which time the Department of Justice is expected to have made a decision on whether to prosecute them.
They include the two joint chairmen, their eldest brother, ousted former chairman Walter Kwok Ping-sheung, SHKP executive director Thomas Chan Kui-yuen, former Hong Kong chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan and four unidentified persons.
It is three months since the two younger Kwoks were arrested for alleged corruption on March 29.