Shareholders reject Chinese Estates privatisation offer by Joseph Lau’s family

The plan was rejected by a majority of minority shareholders at a special general meeting on Friday, the company said in an exchange filing

Only ‘fools’ would accept the HK$4 a share offered, one investor said before the vote

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A Chinese Estates shareholder at Friday’s special general meeting in Hong Kong. Photo: Ka Sing Lam

Published: 2:30pm, 17 Dec 2021Updated: 10:58pm, 17 Dec 2021

The offer to take Chinese Estates Holdings private by Hong Kong magnate Joseph Lau Luen-hung’s family has collapsed because of opposition from minority shareholders.

The plan was rejected by a majority of minority shareholders present at a special general meeting on Friday, the company said in an exchange filing.

Lau became the majority shareholder of Chinese Estates when his company, Evergo, acquired a 43 per cent stake in 1986. Since then, he has expanded his property investments through Chinese Estates.

Lau’s family offered HK$4 (51 US cents) apiece to public investors on October 6, two weeks after the stock plunged to a 10-year low of HK$2.12.

On Friday, 64 of the 74 shareholders in attendance voted against the scheme, representing 16.53 million shares, or 10.8 per cent of the shares that counted in the vote. That was still enough to scupper the offer.

Before the meeting, a number of angry shareholders said the offer was too low to accept.

“I bought these shares at higher prices, of around HK$13 each, a few years ago for collecting dividends,” said an elderly shareholder who only gave his surname as Choi. Only “fools” would accept the HK$4 offered in the privatisation deal, he added.