From Bloomberg
Swire, Haeco Halted on Transaction Statements; Cathay Suspended
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By Wendy Leung and Kyunghee Park
June 7 (Bloomberg) -- Swire Pacific Ltd. and affiliate Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co. halted their shares from trading in the city pending statements related to takeovers and mergers.
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., an affiliate of Swire and Haeco, also suspended its stock ahead of a “price sensitive” announcement. The Hong Kong-based companies gave no further details in their stock exchange statements today and didn’t say whether the suspensions were related.
Cathay Pacific in September agreed to sell a HK$1.9 billion ($244 million) stake in Haeco to Swire, its largest shareholder, boosting cash holdings amid plunging travel demand. The airline still has a 15 percent stake in Haeco, Hong Kong’s largest airplane maintenance provider, while Swire owns 46 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“There is a possibility that the remaining shares may be sold,” said Kelvin Lau, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research. “Swire may want Cathay to focus more on the airline business.”
Swire owns 42 percent of Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s largest airline.
Cindy Cheung, a spokeswoman for Swire, and Carolyn Leung, a Cathay spokeswoman, declined to comment. A call to Haeco went unanswered.
Swire and Haeco both said they would make announcements “pursuant to the Hong Kong Code on Takeovers and Mergers.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Wendy Leung in Hong Kong at
[email protected]; Kyunghee Park in Hong Kong at
[email protected]
Last Updated: June 6, 2010 22:20 EDT