Anta Sports Products Ltd. sank by the most in almost four months Wednesday after the entry of a sizeable stake in Hong Kong’s clearing system stoked speculation of a sale by a key shareholder.
Shares of the Chinese sportswear maker slumped as much as 8 percent in Hong Kong, the most since Oct. 24. The move came after exchange data as of Tuesday showed a 3.11 percent stake, or 84.5 million shares worth $1.2 billion, entered the Central Clearing and Settlement System.
The entry is reviving memories of an episode last July where a stake matching the size of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s position in BYD Co. appeared in the system, before the investment firm eventually confirmed the sale. Speculation is swirling around Anta’s shareholding even though there may be other reasons to explain the latest development.
A spokesperson at Anta didn’t immediately respond to Bloomberg News’ request for a comment.
UBS Securities Hong Kong Ltd. held 7.75 percent of Anta’s total issued shares, warrants and units as of Feb. 14, an increase from 4.66 percent as of Feb. 11, exchange data showed. Anta International Group Holdings Ltd. is Anta’s largest shareholder with a 44.26 percent stake, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“We continue to believe that this is its majority shareholders’ de facto disposal of shares to an entity that would possibly sell down Anta shares in the open market in future,” Citigroup Inc. analysts including Xiaopo Wei wrote in a note. “We expect negative sentiments on Anta’s share price before its results announcement on March 21.”
To be sure, there are other plausible reasons for the steep fall in the shares. The stock tumbled on Dec. 20, 2021 when Anta’s majority shareholder announced it would donate 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) of cash and shares to establish a charity fund, potentially by means of a transfer of Anta’s shares.
By John Cheng
Learn more:
‘National Pride Marketing’ Is High-Risk, High-Reward
Experts warn global brands to tread carefully as they experiment with new ‘guochao’ strategies amid growing nationalism and local competition in China.
