Hong Kong property tycoon Gordon Wu’s US$2.7 billion Hopewell privatisation plan approved
- Privatisation will bring an end to the company’s 47-year listing on Hong Kong stock exchange
- Thomas Jefferson Wu, deputy chairman and son of Gordon Wu, is selling his 3.34 per cent interest for HK$1.12 billion
Property tycoon Gordon Wu Ying-sheung’s HK$21.2 billion (US$2.71 billion) plan to privatise Hopewell Holdings was approved by shareholders on Thursday, as one of the Hong Kong’s longest listed companies prepares to delist.
But the success of the deal puts in doubt the future role of Wu’s son, Thomas Jefferson Wu, the 46-year old deputy chairman and managing director, as he will not hold any share in the company after the privatisation.
The junior Wu did not join his father and family members in making an offer to buy the outstanding stake from other shareholders. Instead, he will cash in on his 3.34 per cent shareholding for HK$1.125 billion.
The deal received 97.87 per cent of votes in favour while 2.13 per cent rejected it, the company said in a stock exchange filing. Hong Kong regulation requires 75 per cent of shareholders to vote in support for a deal to pass and only 10 per cent of votes to scuttle a deal.
The last day of the stock’s trading will be on April 17 and it will be delisted on May 3, bring the curtains down on its 47 years as a listed entity.