ATV sale saga: whose head will roll over false report of buyout?
Station may face SFC investigation for issuing false information on sale after surge in HKTV shares, ex-commerce chief Frederick Ma says
After the uproar caused by the false report that major ATV investor Wong Ching would sell his controlling stake to Ricky Wong Wai-kay's HKTV, the question now is: who should be held responsible, and possibly prosecuted, for releasing the news?
Former commerce minister Frederick Ma Si-hang said yesterday that ATV could have breached laws by issuing inaccurate information.
Ma said he believed the Securities and Futures Commission, the market watchdog, would launch a probe as HKTV's shares appeared to have gone up after ATV's announcement.
Read more: Hong Kong's ATV denied new free-to-air licence as Exco pulls the plug on ailing broadcaster
"[ATV] made a unilateral announcement on an important transaction that was later denied by HKTV," he said. "This somehow showed the information was inaccurate. If the announcement affected the other company, I believe the SFC would probably launch a probe."
The report about the deal - made during ATV's Chinese-language newscast at 6pm on Tuesday - sent HKTV shares surging 75 cents, or 24.42 per cent, to a high of HK$3.82 at one stage yesterday, before closing up 28 cents, or 9.12 per cent, at HK$3.35.
Trading was unusually hectic, with 87 million shares changing hands, compared with the average turnover of 2.3 million shares a day in the past three months.
According to the report, Wong Ching and his relative Wong Ben-koon, who holds the 52.4 per cent stake on paper, had accepted an offer from Ricky Wong.