CMB couple fined for share breach

A couple who stand to gain an estimated windfall of about HK$100 million as a result of a failed takeover bid for China Motor Bus were yesterday fined HK$60,000 for a delay in reporting the buying of shares in the company.

Chan Kwan-shat and his wife Lydia Wong Wai-gin - the second-largest shareholders of China Motor Bus with a joint stake of 12.13 per cent - pleaded guilty to 12 charges relating to breaches of the Securities (Disclosure of Interests) Ordinance.

At Western Court, Magistrate Polly Lo fined Chan and Wong a total of HK$60,000 and ordered them to pay costs of HK$16,352 to the Securities and Futures Commission.

The commission said the couple failed to notify the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) and China Motor Bus (CMB) about three separate share acquisitions between October 14, 1998, and January 11 last year. The purchases increased their joint interest in the issued share capital of CMB to 10 per cent, 11 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively.

Under the disclosure law, shareholders who increase their holding in a listed company to 10 per cent must notify both the HKEx and the company within five days of the transaction. Chang or Wong reported their share buying to HKEX and CMB only on June 3 this year, almost four years after the purchase which lifted their stake to 10 per cent.

Neither Chan nor Wong hold any title with CMB, the former bus operator turned property firm.