A Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding (0322) shareholder seeking to sell up to HK$918 million in stock has canceled the offer after investors demanded bigger discounts to buy into the largest mainland instant noodle maker. The undisclosed shareholder had offered 38.27 million shares in a range of HK$23.75 to HK$24 each, equivalent to a discount of 1 percent to 2.1 percent to Monday's close, according to terms of the deal seen by Reuters.
"The discount was too small," Tanrich Securities equity sales vice president Jackson Wong said. " If it had been priced at a 5-7 percent discount, it would have been snapped up."
Tingyi sells noodles under the Master Kong brand and has a tie-up with PepsiCo in the mainland. Shares dropped 2.3 percent, compared with a 0.3 percent gain in the Hang Seng index.
The stock has soared nearly 32 percent since hitting a low in late May.
Goldman Sachs, the bookrunner on the block deal, said the offering did not take place.
Tingyi's largest shareholders are privately held Japanese company Sanyo Foods and Taiwanese group Ting Hsin International, with stakes of about a third each.
Block deals in the Asia-Pacific jumped 84 percent in January to September, contrasting sharply with a 57 percent tumble in new floats. REUTERS
