NWD's Cheng takes control of i-Cable

08-10-2021 00:00 HKT

New World Development (0017) chairman Henry Cheng Kar-Chun has pumped up his stake in i-Cable Communications (1097) by acquiring shares of the TV company's major shareholder from chairman of Far East Consortium (0035) David Chiu Tat-cheong, as shown by shareholding disclosure.

Through Cheng's company Celestial Pioneer, he reached two agreements with shareholders of Forever Top (Asia), a major shareholder of i-Cable, to acquire 40.5 percent of stake in Forever Top.

This increased Celestial Pioneer's stake in Forever Top from 31.5 percent to 72 percent, making it the largest shareholder of the company.

The record showed that the 40.5 percent of stake happened to be the same amount held by Chiu and a major shareholder of Guangzhou R&F Properties (2777) Li Sze Lim, suggesting that the two may have sold their holdings to Cheng. Chiu holds 24.5 percent of the stake in Forever Top while Li owns 16 percent, data showed.

Forever Top has 2.68 billion shares of i-Cable, or 43.22 percent, data of the Central Clearing And Settlement System showed.

Upon the completion of the deal, Cheng's interest in i-Cable, including shares and convertible bonds, has shot up from 0.89 percent to 149.03 percent, according to the CCASS.

New World Development did not respond to the request to comment on the news, while Guangzhou R&F Properties declined to comment as it is not related to the group's business.

i-Cable also declined to comment.

Trading in i-Cable shares has been halted since October 4 pending the release of an announcement of inside information of the company potentially involving the Hong Kong Code on Takeovers and Mergers, an exchange filing issued earlier showed.

Together with a 14 percent of Forever Top stake held by Chow Tai Fook Enterprises through Celestial Channel, Cheng's family will hold a total of 86 percent of the interest in Forever Top.

The remaining 14 percent is held by Hony Communications and its Expand Ocean under John Zhao Linghuan, the founder and chairman of Hony Capital, a private equity firm in China.