Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Latest on WKK (532)
What started out as a cheeky steal has turned into downtown robbery!
Check out my last post in April for background (if you're new) and you shouldn't miss today's announcement, because you're not gonna see something like this in a long time (at least I've not seen one before). Don't miss the headings too as they are catchy, e.g. Who's Mr. Webb?
http://main.ednews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/20070605/LTN20070605158.pdf
Sure Mr. Webb is trying to create the same independent shareholder activist movement taking place in the U.S. and Europe, and this is the second episode no long after the Mr. Lau vs TCI standoff in the Chinese Estates privatization, save that Mr. Lau opted for a graceful exit whilst Mr. Wong has chosen a showdown.
My guess is Mr. Webb does have enough votes as he's claimed and the proposal will be shot down at the SGM. And those more speculative or feeble are already exiting this morning in fear of the subsequent fall in share price. Mr. Wong has made the statement that he won't increase the offer price and if this fails won't make another privatization move in 12 months, maybe as a threat to all of us holding shares to surrender. But I remind you that this latest offer is not really a privatization offer governed by the SFC, where whatever said during the offer period is etched in stones and can't be overturned, but merely a purchase of assets under the HKSE rules. So Mr. Wong can change his mind anytime and technically won't be in breach of anything (he's not made any announcement under his name), other than personal reputation which I don't think matters the most to him right now.
Having said this I do admire Mr. Wong's courage to go the full distance knowing his chance of success is slim. His only chance of winning is Mr. Webb backing down at the last minute, slim. What Mr. Wong can do now is to grab as many shares as he can, knowing he can't buy up the whole company. What's next is anybody's guess? The best scenario is that Mr. Wong's planning to flip the company over to a private equity fund and the worst scenario is nothing will happen for a long while.
I'm gonna to attend the SGM and see how this eventually plays out.
DISCLOSURE: I hold 532 at time of writing.
Check out my last post in April for background (if you're new) and you shouldn't miss today's announcement, because you're not gonna see something like this in a long time (at least I've not seen one before). Don't miss the headings too as they are catchy, e.g. Who's Mr. Webb?
http://main.ednews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/20070605/LTN20070605158.pdf
Sure Mr. Webb is trying to create the same independent shareholder activist movement taking place in the U.S. and Europe, and this is the second episode no long after the Mr. Lau vs TCI standoff in the Chinese Estates privatization, save that Mr. Lau opted for a graceful exit whilst Mr. Wong has chosen a showdown.
My guess is Mr. Webb does have enough votes as he's claimed and the proposal will be shot down at the SGM. And those more speculative or feeble are already exiting this morning in fear of the subsequent fall in share price. Mr. Wong has made the statement that he won't increase the offer price and if this fails won't make another privatization move in 12 months, maybe as a threat to all of us holding shares to surrender. But I remind you that this latest offer is not really a privatization offer governed by the SFC, where whatever said during the offer period is etched in stones and can't be overturned, but merely a purchase of assets under the HKSE rules. So Mr. Wong can change his mind anytime and technically won't be in breach of anything (he's not made any announcement under his name), other than personal reputation which I don't think matters the most to him right now.
Having said this I do admire Mr. Wong's courage to go the full distance knowing his chance of success is slim. His only chance of winning is Mr. Webb backing down at the last minute, slim. What Mr. Wong can do now is to grab as many shares as he can, knowing he can't buy up the whole company. What's next is anybody's guess? The best scenario is that Mr. Wong's planning to flip the company over to a private equity fund and the worst scenario is nothing will happen for a long while.
I'm gonna to attend the SGM and see how this eventually plays out.
DISCLOSURE: I hold 532 at time of writing.
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Webb has declared he has sufficient shares to vote down the proposal. http://www.webb-site.com/articles/WKK.htm
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