Soros wins approval to sell stake in Hainan Airlines
Saturday, January 25, 2003
biz.scmp.com
BLOOMBERG in Shanghai
Billionaire financier George Soros has won approval to sell his 15 per cent stake in Hainan Airlines after the value of his holdings almost tripled in seven years to US$70 million.
American Aviation, a closely held company owned by Mr Soros, will be allowed to sell dollar-denominated shares in Hainan Airlines worth US$108 million, starting January 16 next year, the airline said.
Mr Soros, Pilkington and 12 other overseas investors applied to sell their shares after the mainland government in August said it would consider applications to convert untradeable stock to market shares. Mr Soros is the first to receive a sale date.
"It sends a note of confidence to foreign investors who previously didn't want to buy shares for fear of being trapped," said Fang Binyin, a trader at Guotai Junan Securities. Mr Soros would not necessarily choose to sell his shares immediately, Mr Fang said.
The government, itself holding an estimated US$241 billion of non-tradeable shares that it wants to sell in the market to pay for pension and welfare programmes, hopes to orchestrate an orderly flow of shares to the market to avoid plunging prices.
Mr Soros bought his shares in Hainan Airlines from the government in 1995, two years before the carrier became a publicly traded company.
His shares were barred from sale on the exchange under China's securities laws.
The value of Mr Soros' Hainan Air holdings has almost tripled in value since he paid US$25 million, or 25 US cents a share, for them in 1995.
Hainan Air is the largest mainland carrier excluded from a government-directed industry consolidation that involves Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines.
For the first nine months of last year, Hainan's profit rose 15 per cent to 111.4 million yuan (about HK$105.55 million), while sales rose 69.9 per cent to 3.68 billion yuan. |
