lucky shanghai bachelor escapes fallout of chen's fall from grace
Mishaps often occur in pairs, so property tycoon Vincent Lo Hong-sui must have sighed with relief when he learned of the sacking of Shanghai party secretary Chen Liangyu, just hours after the closing of Shui On Land's HK$6.2 billion share sale which was 11 times oversubscribed.
Shanghai-focused property stocks usually get hit when a political scandal erupts in the city and Mr Chen's fall from power was no exception.
Nine of them took a tumble in Hong Kong trading on Monday and most were lower yesterday, too.
Now, an 11-times oversubscription rate may not seem like anything to crow about but consider the alternative: if the Chen story had broken earlier, Mr Lo might have felt it necessary to yank the Shui On Land IPO off the market, just as he did in June on the eve of the closing when flotations briefly lost favour because stocks had gone into a tailspin.
Once again, life has been kind to the Shanghai Bachelor.
