Sun Hung Kai Properties shares open higher after Thomas Kwok’s corruption conviction
SHKP share price chased higher despite guilty verdict of top executives in corruption trial
Investors yesterday brushed aside the impact of graft convictions against the senior executives of Sun Hung Kai Properties, pushing the developer's shares up 2.21 per cent in the first trading day after the verdicts were handed down.
Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Thomas Chan Kui-yuen were found guilty on Friday of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office in a case that centred on payments to former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan. It was the city's biggest corruption trial.
Thomas Kwok has resigned as co-chairman of SHKP and Thomas Chan as executive director.
Credit rating agencies Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings said the developer was not affected by their resignations.
The stock yesterday rose 3.27 per cent to a high of HK$117 before closing at HK$115.80, after trading in the shares of the city's biggest developer by market value resumed following Friday's suspension.
Alfred Lau, an analyst at Bocom International, said he believed SHKP had shown the market that business remained normal, with buoyant property sales and a major expansion of its land bank in the past two years.
"We believe the market may view the result as slightly positive, helping to avoid some technical sell-off, as only one of the chairmen was found guilty," said Lau, adding that the shares might trade up or down within a 5 per cent range.