There was an explosion of covered call warrants issued on Cosco Pacific yesterday after the stock closed at $6.90, pushing up the total value of its free-floatshares to $4 billion.
Under recently established stock exchange rules, a company's free-float must total $4 billion to be eligible for warrant issues.
Three brokerages successfully issued 554 million American style warrants each, while at least two others attempted to issue but were crowded out of the market, traders said.
Merrill Lynch issued at a price of 19.8 cents, with gearing of 3.48 times and expiring on September 19, 1997, with a strike price of $5.52.
Deutche Morgan Grenfell issued at 21.23 cents, with a gearing of 3.25 times and expiring on March 20, 1998, at a strike price of $5.865.
Credit Lyonnais issued at 19.527 cents, with a gearing of 3.69 times and maturing on September 22, 1997, at $5.52.