Directors and companies go on spending spree
Techtronic resumes buy-backs and Lee Shau-kee top-up increases Henderson stake to 65.4pc
Trading in their own company shares by directors rebounded sharply last week, with 30 companies reporting 171 transactions worth HK$1.05 billion, based on filings to the stock exchange.
Buyers outweighed sellers, with 21 companies reporting 128 purchases worth HK$957 million, compared with nine firms with 43 disposals worth HK$96 million. The huge purchase value was due to HK$832 million of acquisitions in recently listed Bank of Chongqing.
Buy-back activity also rebounded last week, with eight companies posting 35 transactions worth HK$148 million. The figures were up from the previous week's seven companies with 30 trades worth HK$60.6 million.
Significant corporate shareholder purchases last week included buy-backs in Techtronic Industries and insider deals in Henderson Land Development, O-Net Communications and Trigiant Group.
Rechargeable tools manufacturer Techtronic picked up where it left off in September, with 250,000 shares purchased on Friday at HK$19.03 each. The group had bought 1.75 million shares from July 3 to September 4 at an average of HK$18.19 each.
The recent buy-backs bode well for shareholders as the stock has risen by an average of 44 per cent six months after the group bought shares, based on 28 filings since 2007. The stock closed at HK$19.06 on Friday.
Chairman Lee Shau-kee bought 409,000 shares in property developer Henderson Land from November 11 to 13 at an average of HK$44.96 each. The trades, which accounted for 5 per cent of the blue chip's trading volume, increased his holdings to 1.76 billion shares or 65.36 per cent of the issued capital. The purchases were made after a 10 per cent drop in the share price from HK$50.20.
Lee acquired 57.29 million shares from March to July at HK$57.60 to HK$44.19 each, or an average of HK$53.42 each.
The shares closed at HK$45.45 on Friday.
Chief executive Na Qinglin recorded the first trades by a director of optical networking components manufacturer O-Net since the stock was listed in 2010. He bought 5.2 million shares from November 11 to 14 at an average of HK$1.48 each.
The trades, which accounted for 57 per cent of the stock's trading volume, increased Na's holdings to 245.89 million shares, or 33.73 per cent.
The purchases followed a 23 per cent drop in the company's share price since August from HK$1.92.
Na's acquisition price was sharply lower than the initial public offering price of HK$2.90.
The company bought back shares earlier this year at near Na's acquisition price, picking up 26.5 million shares from June to July at an average of HK$1.43 each.
The stock closed at HK$1.43 on Friday.
Chairman Qian Lirong recorded his first purchases in telecommunications equipment manufacturer Trigiant since the stock was listed in March last year, with 15.75 million shares purchased from November 8 to 13 at HK$2.03 to HK$2.48 each, or an average of HK$2.16 each. The trades raised his holdings to 615.99 million shares or 55.25 per cent of the issued capital.
The purchases came after a 40 per cent drop in the share price since last month from HK$3.60. Qian sold 29.3 million shares on August 29 at HK$2.70 each.
Another high-level executive who recorded his first purchase this year is chief executive Jiang Wei, with an initial 60,000 shares purchased on September 6 at HK$3.15 each.
The stock closed at HK$2.49 on Friday.
