The shares of air and sea freight forwarder Jet Air International have been suspended from trading more than twice in the past month, and remain suspended on news about a possible change in the controlling interest. The group made another announcement this week, saying its chairman and controlling shareholder, Peter Yu Kam-ching, was in discussions to sell part of his holdings to an independent third party. The sale could lead to a general offer, the company said. Mr Yu owns 241.676 million Jet Air shares which represent about 56.36 per cent of its issued capital. The chairman could end up selling at far below the shares' purchase price he bought since 1997. Mr Yu has been an active buyer since the October 1997 crash, increasing his stake by 74 per cent or 6.68 million shares, in 44 separate transactions. The acquisitions were made on the way down from a high of 81 cents on his first purchase on October 21 1997 to his last purchase last December 31 at 15 cents per share. His average acquisition price for shares bought during that 15-month period was 48 cents, which is 161 per cent more than the firm's estimated net asset value of 18.4 cents per share. Asia Orient Holdings director Poon Jing has been buying shares in Asia Standard and Asia Orient following price falls of as much as 14 per cent in the past month. Mr Poon picked up 1.02 million Asia Orient shares in the past four weeks at about 26 cents per share. He has acquired more shares in Asia Standard - 1.56 million shares during that same period at 86 cents to 96 cents each. Asia Standard seems to be a better bet for investors as the director has accumulated more shares in that company. The shares also have support from the company, which has bought back 3.87 million shares this year at an average of 95 cents per share. Directors of Great Eagle may be looking to capitalise on the 26 per cent drop in its share price in the past month. The last time directors enjoyed trading profits was in August when they bought shares at $6 each. They sold 1.22 million shares the following month for an average gain of $1.40 per share. They began buying again after the counter fell below $8 last month. Deputy managing director Lo Ka-shui has picked up 1.12 million shares since January 22 at about $7.47. His highest purchase price was $8.15. Fellow director Archie Lo Ying-sui bought 100,000 shares on January 25 and 26 at $7.53 per share. He sold some shares on January 27, unloading the same amount at $7.90 - a gain of 4.9 per cent. He bought more shares on January 28 and 29 - 143,000 shares at $7.55 per share. Expect more buying from these two directors as the counter has fallen far below their purchase prices, closing at $7.10 in Thursday's trading. On the buy-backs side, the stock to watch is New World Infrastructure. A recent report by Macquarie Equities suggested the group is one of the better candidates for inclusion in the Hang Seng Index constituents list. The report helped boost the share price to as high as $9.10 on January 27. After falling to as low as $13.30 on February 8, the counter has since gained investor support again, rising by more than 20 per cent this past week. HSI Services, which meets four times a year, has already met this quarter and moved not to change the composition of the Hang Seng Index. Buy-backs by the group may help push the share price up further. The company repurchased 77,000 shares on February 11 at $8.15 per share. That was its first buy-back transaction since listing on the bourse in 1995. Robert Halili is director of ownership research at Disclosure Inc.
