Glorious Property shares up 39pc as it confirms privatisation plan
Shares of mainland developer Glorious Property opened up 39 per cent on Thursday, its first day of trading after being suspended since February 2 due to the impending announcement of a privatisation plan.
Its controlling shareholder, Best Era International, was still considering privatisation and was actively pursuing the matter with financial institutions with a view to obtaining the required financing, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Wednesday.
Mainland businessman Zhang Zhirong, through various entities, ultimately controls 68.2 per cent of Glorious Property as well as 15 million outstanding share options that could be converted into 15 million shares, it said.
Its share price jumped to HK$1.32 on Thursday morning, the highest level since November 24.
Zhang, also the largest shareholder of shipbuilder China Rongsheng Heavy Industries, offered as much as HK$4.57 billion in October 2013 to buy out the outstanding shares of Glorious.
However, the proposal was vetoed by shareholders in a 62:58 vote in January 2014. The company suffered a 44.7 per cent slump in contracted sales last year to 4 billion yuan.
Global ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut its ratings for Glorious by a notch to CCC two months ago, citing concerns about the company’s ability to refinance a US$300 million note maturing in October.
Glorious floated its shares in Hong Kong through an initial public listing that helped it raise US$1.53 billion in October 2009.
