Harbin Brewery Group has been forced to suspend its stock after comments made by an executive criticising a hostile takeover bid by SABMiller fell foul of the securities regulator.
Remarks by Harbin Brewery chief executive Peter Lo critical of the takeover carried in the western press prompted the Securities and Futures Commission to ask the firm to suspend trading. The brewer was told it could do so of its own volition or under SFC orders, according to sources at the regulator.
Shares in Harbin Brewery were suspended from trading by the firm at 2.30pm yesterday after dropping 7.17 per cent to $4.525. The stock had previously surged by 51.16 per cent in the preceding two days.
South Africa's SABMiller has offered to buy all Harbin Brewery shares it does not own at $4.30 each after rival bidder Anheuser-Busch announced a surprise acquisition of a 29.07 per cent stake at $3.70 a share on Sunday.
Harbin Brewery has made it clear that it favours Anheuser-Busch.
Mr Lo was quoted in the Financial Times as saying: 'I wonder how they will run Harbin without management and employee support.'