State-owned Beijing Enterprises Group has further raised its stake in takeover target China Gas Holdings and become its largest shareholder.
The move dooms the takeover bid by a rival consortium formed by ENN Energy and China Petroleum & Chemical (Sinopec) to failure unless the bid price is significantly raised.
Beijing Enterprises Group, the parent of listed natural gas distributor and water treatment firm Beijing Enterprises, bought 132.41 million shares in the open market on Wednesday at HK$3.68 to HK$4 each, for a total of HK$518.88 million, according to a filing by Beijing Enterprises Group to the Hong Kong stock exchange. This raised its stake to 17.96 per cent from 14.94 per cent.
The average acquisition price works out at HK$3.92 per share, according to calculations by the South China Morning Post.
On Tuesday, an alliance between London-listed oil and gas supplier Fortune Oil and ousted China Gas managing director Liu Minghui raised their combined stake in China Gas to 17.67 per cent from 17.65 per cent at an average price of HK$3.69, based on data from a separate filing by the purchasers to the exchange.
SK E&S and SK Gas - units of South Korean conglomerate SK Group - together have 15.34 per cent.
Beijing Enterprises Group, the Fortune Oil-Liu alliance and SK Group have amassed a combined stake of 50.97 per cent after multiple share purchases in recent weeks.