China Evergrande unit slides by record in US$1.9 billion sell-off as seller offloads stock after lock-up period expires
- Several blocks totalling 270 million shares were traded at HK$9.80 each, a 12 per cent discount to Tuesday’s closing price
- Lock-up period on key investors expired today after the unit of China’s top developer started trading in Hong Kong on December 2
The stock sank 13 per cent to HK$9.78 at the close of trading on Wednesday, erasing the equivalent of US$1.9 billion from its market value. That was the biggest one-day sell-off since the unit of China’s biggest developer by sales started trading on December 2.
Some 270 million shares, or about 2.5 per cent of its outstanding capital, were traded at HK$9.80 each, valuing the trade at about HK$2.65 billion (US$341 million), a 12 per cent discount to its last traded price on Tuesday, according to a person involved in the transaction. The seller and buyers were not identified. Bloomberg earlier reported that nine blocks of them were transacted.
The property services group is 60 per cent-owned by developer China Evergrande group, based on its latest annual report. It had 565 million square metres of areas under management at the end of 2020, covering 937 managed projects in 290 cities in mainland China and Hong Kong.
Wednesday’s stock slump reflects the pessimism that first dogged its debut on December 2, after the global offering raised HK$14.3 billion for the company and other existing investors. The stock slipped to as low as HK$7.83 within a week, before a broader market rally lifted it to a peak of HK$19.10 on February 17. UBS, one of the IPO’s joint bookrunners, was also involved in Wednesday’s block sales, the person familiar with the matter said.