Greentown shares soar on sale of 24.29pc stake to state-owned CCCG
Shares in mainland developer soar after it bounces back from collapse of Sunac sale with agreement to sell 24.29pc stake to state-owned firm
Shares of mainland developer Greentown China soared on Wednesday by the most in two-and-a-half years after it announced it was selling a 24.288 per cent stake to a state-owned construction firm for HK$6.01 billion.
However, some analysts remain concerned about its longer-term performance, given uncertainties about how returning founder Song Weiping will steer the luxury home builder out of a fragile market recovery.
The deal followed last week's termination of a May agreement to sell a 24.313 per cent stake - at HK$12 a share in cash - to peer Sunac China for HK$6.3 billion, which saw Song replaced by Sunac chairman Sun Hongbin as chairman of Greentown.
In a media conference at its headquarters in Hangzhou on Tuesday, Song said the cooperation with Sunac over the past half a year had made Greentown's clients, business partners and management teams unhappy.
He introduced the new buyer - China Communications Construction Group (CCCG) - and said he would return to work at Greentown, without giving details about his specific role.
"I don't think the same equity sale can happen for a third time," Song said, adding that the mainland's private-state partnership reforms had given Greentown a rare opportunity to team up with CCCG.