June Chen
Shares of graphite products manufacturer Sanergy Group (2459) were suspended from trading yesterday afternoon after they plunged 98 percent on a warning from Hong Kong's securities regulator.
The high concentration of shareholding - just 26 shareholders own 85.32 percent of the company's shares - meant the stock could fluctuate substantially even with a small number of shares traded, chairman Peter Brendon Wyllie said.
As of August 19, 25 shareholders held an aggregate of 279 million shares, representing 27.65 percent of all issued shares. An aggregate of 49 million shares, or 4.88 percent of the issued shares, were not held in the central clearing and settlement system and were not registered on the company's Hong Kong register of members.
Such shareholdings, together with 583 million shares or 57.67 percent of the issued shares held by the controlling shareholder, represented 90.2 percent of all issued shares.
In the announcement, the company said that not less than 25 percent of the issued shares were held in public hands as of August 19, and it has maintained a sufficient public float as required under the rules governing the listing of securities on the stock exchange.
The company's share price once rose to HK$23.10 apiece compared to the offer price of HK$1.60 when listed in the city in January 2023.
But yesterday, the stock slumped to HK$0.32 from the opening price of HK$18.98 on the SFC's notice, and trading was halted before 3pm.
