Brokers say the move is unlikely as ownership is scattered across too many stakeholders
Shares of APT Satellite Holdings soared into the stratosphere yesterday on speculation the commercial satellite operator will be taken private.
APT shares surged as much as $1.10 or 57.89 per cent to an intraday peak of $3 - the highest level since August last year. The counter later descended to an orbit of $2.725, giving a gain of 43.42 per cent. Over the past two days, APT shares have rocketed 61.2 per cent higher.
The stock was heavily traded with 10.21 million shares changing hands, or nearly 43 times the average daily volume over the past month.
Despite the privatisation talk, analysts doubted one would materialise, saying the exercise would be difficult to carry out.
'I don't think it's likely,' UOB-Kay Hian Hong Kong director Steven Leung Wai-yuen said. 'APT's shareholder structure is rather disperse. Everyone owns a 10-plus per cent stake. It's not easy to privatise a company if its shares are scattered among many people.'