Citic saga bad for HKEx, say Democrats
The Democratic Party has warned that the credibility of Hong Kong's stock exchange could have been damaged by what it called a breach of listing rules in the HK$11.6 billion bailout of Citic Pacific by its parent company, Citic Group, last month.
In a letter to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing earlier this month, party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan called on HKEx to investigate whether Larry Yung Chi-kin, chairman of Citic Pacific, had breached rules because he is also a director of Citic Group, the parent company.
Party lawmaker James To Kun-sun said: 'The listing rules clearly say people with substantial interests should abstain from voting, and since Larry Yung is a director of Citic Group, he should not participate.'
In a closed-door extraordinary general meeting on December 19, shareholders of Citic Pacific approved a HK$11.6 billion bailout by its state-owned parent despite criticism that the deal was unfair to minority shareholders. Mr Yung is the second-largest shareholder in Citic Pacific.
