Few insider transactions during CNY week

Low volume of purchases and no sales by directors as disposals considered inauspicious

TRADING by directors was sharply down last week: Only two companies recorded three purchases worth a paltry $100,000 during the holiday-shortened week of Jan 28 to 30. The figures are sharply down from the previous week's 19 firms, 50 acquisitions, and $40.3 million.


Apart from the low insider buys, there were no sales by directors last week. The sellers' absence, however, is not surprising as any disposals by directors would be rather inauspicious for the market during the Chinese New Year.

Investors should note that there were also no sales by directors in the Hong Kong market last week. Aside from the low insider buys, there were no buybacks in the Singapore market last week. Listed firms were more active in the previous week with 13 companies posting 44 repurchases worth $3.3 million.

Substantial shareholder activity was also low last week with only seven shareholders that recorded 17 transactions in six listed firms. The sentiment among substantial shareholders was negative last week with sales recorded by several fund managers in CapitaLand, China Lifestyle Food & Beverages and Yongnam Holdings.

There was also a rare sale by mutual fund manager The Capital Group Companies in Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd.

On the buying side, there was more price support by substantial shareholders in Sunpower Group and Asia-Pacific Strategic Investments Ltd last week.

Investors should note, however, that the substantial shareholder purchase in Asia-Pacific Strategic Investments was somewhat offset by a sale by an executive director of the company earlier this month.

CapitaLand

Janus Capital Management LLC unloaded more shares of property developer and hotel operator CapitaLand Ltd at a sharply lower price with 33.3 million shares sold on Jan 28 at an estimated $2.49 each.

The trade reduced its direct holdings by 15 per cent to 192.4 million shares or 6.8 per cent of the issued capital. The group previously sold 1.5 million shares on Nov 10, 2008 at an estimated price of $3.24 each.

The disposals by Janus Capital were made at sharply lower than its acquisition prices based on the 83.7 million shares that it acquired from August to September 2008 at estimated prices of $5.00 to $4.10 each. The group reported an initial filing in July 2008 of 5.9 million shares at $5.66 each, which raised its interest to 5.1 per cent.

Investors should note that non-executive independent director Richard Edward Hale sold 50,000 shares on Dec 11, 2008 at $2.84 each, which reduced his stake by 10 per cent to 435,000 shares. He previously sold 12,000 shares in May 2007 at $8.40 each.

The large sale by Janus Capital this month at a significantly lower price strongly suggests that the fund manager will lower its stake to below 5 per cent in the near-term.

CapitaLand will announce its annual results on Feb 10. The stock closed at $2.40 on Friday.

China Lifestyle Food & Beverages

Orange Capital LLC and Value Partners Ltd recorded huge sales in lifestyle food products manufacturer and distributor China Lifestyle Food & Beverages Group this month.

The disposals were significant as they were made at sharply lower than their purchase prices.

Orange Capital LLC ceased to be a substantial shareholder on Jan 29 following the sale of 20 million shares at an estimated price of 8.5 cents each, which reduced its deemed holdings by 50 per cent to 19.7 million shares or 3.9 per cent.

The group previously acquired 5.6 million shares from February to November 2007 at estimated prices of 33 cents to 49 cents each. Orange Capital became a substantial shareholder in December 2006 after it subscribed for 20 million shares via placement agreement at 38 cents each, which raised its interest by 142 per cent to 6.9 per cent.

Value Partners Limited (VPL), on the other hand, sold 5.1 million shares on Jan 22 at an estimated price of 7 cents each, which lowered its deemed stake by 13 per cent to 35.1 million shares or 6.9 per cent. The group previously acquired 15 million shares from June 18 to Nov 30, 2007 at estimated prices of 41 cents to 48 cents each.

VPL reported an initial filing (for the third time) on April 3, 2007 of 380,000 shares at 36 cents each, which raised its interest to 5.1 per cent. The counter closed at 8 cents on Friday.

Yongnam Holdings

JPMorgan Chase & Co ceased to be a substantial shareholder of mechanical engineering services provider Yongnam Holdings following the sale of 24.4 million shares from Jan 21 to 28 at an estimated price of 9.5 cents each.

The trades reduced its deemed holdings by 29 per cent to 60.6 million shares, or 4.9 per cent. The disposals were made at sharply lower than its previous sale prices based on the 27.04 million shares that the group sold from November 2007 to March 2008 at estimated prices of 21 cents to 36 cents each.

Prior to the sales since November 2007, JPMorgan acquired a net 59.6 million shares from February to August 2007 at estimated prices of 22 cents to 44 cents each.

The group reported an initial filing on Feb 5, 2007 of 10.7 million shares at 23 cents each, which raised its interest to 5.2 per cent. The counter closed at 9 cents on Friday.

Singapore Technologies Engineering

The Capital Group Companies, Inc recorded its first trade in engineering services provider Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd since February 2008 with 698,000 shares sold on Jan 23 at an estimated price of $2.28 each.

The trade reduced its deemed holdings to 208.7 million shares or 6.9 per cent.

The sale was significant as it was made at sharply lower than its purchase prices. The Capital Group Companies previously acquired 30.9 million shares in February 2008 at an estimated price of $3.60 each and 9.3 million shares in April 2006 at an estimated price of $3.12 each. The stock closed at $2.28 on Friday.

Sunpower Group

Substantial shareholder Arthur Jurczakowski acquired more shares of energy saving and environmental protection products designer and manufacturer Sunpower Group with 238,000 shares purchased from January 14 to 29 at an estimated price of 9 cents each.

The trades increased his direct holdings to 36.5 million shares or 11.1 per cent. He previously acquired 172,000 shares from Nov 17 to 18, 2008 at an estimated price of 8 cents each.

The acquisitions since November 2008 were made at sharply lower than his previous purchase prices based on the 19.8 million shares that he acquired from March to December 2007 at estimated prices of 25 cents to 53 cents each.

Arthur Jurczakowski became a substantial shareholder in March 2007 following the purchase of 600,000 shares at 31 cents each, which raised his interest from 4.9 per cent to 5.1 per cent. The purchases by Mr Jurczakowski since 2007 were the first corporate shareholder trades in Sunpower Group since the stock was listed in March 2005.

The company is expected to release its annual results this month. The counter closed at 9 cents on Friday.

Asia-Pacific Strategic Investments

There were conflicting trades in memorial parks and columbariums operator Asia-Pacific Strategic Investments, with more buys by The Nassim Fund and more sales by executive director Heng Aik Koon.

The Nassim Fund purchased 1.7 million shares from Jan 2 to 30 at an estimated price of 21 cents each, which increased its deemed holdings to 68.6 million shares or 11.6 per cent.

The group previously acquired 11.8 million shares from April 1 to Dec 31, 2008 in 114 transactions at estimated prices of 21 cents to 30 cents each.

The Nassim Fund reported an initial filing on March 27, 2008 of 51.1 million shares at 18 cents each, which raised its interest to 10.01 per cent. Overall, the group's stake is up by 13.6 million shares or 25 per cent since that initial filing in March 2008.

On the negative side, executive director Heng Aik Koon sold 2 million shares on Jan 14 at 18 cents each, which reduced his direct stake to 112.4 million shares or 19.1 per cent.

He previously sold 5 million shares on Dec 17, 2008 at 20 cents each. The disposals by Mr Heng since December 2008 were his first on-market trades since his appointment in July 2006. The stock closed at 21 cents on Friday.

Business Times