Hong Kong property tycoon Gordon Wu’s US$2.7 billion Hopewell privatisation plan approved
- Privatisation will bring an end to the company’s 47-year listing on Hong Kong stock exchange
- Thomas Jefferson Wu, deputy chairman and son of Gordon Wu, is selling his 3.34 per cent interest for HK$1.12 billion
Property tycoon Gordon Wu Ying-sheung’s HK$21.2 billion (US$2.71 billion) plan to privatise Hopewell Holdings was approved by shareholders on Thursday, as one of the Hong Kong’s longest listed companies prepares to delist.
But the success of the deal puts in doubt the future role of Wu’s son, Thomas Jefferson Wu, the 46-year old deputy chairman and managing director, as he will not hold any share in the company after the privatisation.
The junior Wu did not join his father and family members in making an offer to buy the outstanding stake from other shareholders. Instead, he will cash in on his 3.34 per cent shareholding for HK$1.125 billion.
The deal received 97.87 per cent of votes in favour while 2.13 per cent rejected it, the company said in a stock exchange filing. Hong Kong regulation requires 75 per cent of shareholders to vote in support for a deal to pass and only 10 per cent of votes to scuttle a deal.
The last day of the stock’s trading will be on April 17 and it will be delisted on May 3, bring the curtains down on its 47 years as a listed entity.
More than 500 shareholders attended the meeting to cast their vote while others voted by proxy.
Last December, the 83-year-old founding chairman and his family offered HK$38.8 per share to buy out the 63.07 per cent of shares owned by other shareholders and take the company private.
“It was a bit of a surprise to the market that the privatisation came through,” said Gordon Tsui Luen-on, managing director of investment company Hantec Pacific, adding that the high votes threshold for privatisation had caused many similar deals to fail.
Tsui noted that with regards to succession planning, it was not necessary for father and son to work together in the company. “Even if the son does not own any shares, it does not prevent him from continuing to run the company.”
Hopewell’s announcement on Thursday night did not mention Thomas Wu’s future role in the company.
Gordon Wu, with a net worth of US$1.4 billion, ranks as the 48th richest man in Hong Kong, according to Forbes. He cited low liquidity of shares, noting that average daily turnover was only 729,220 shares for the 12-month period to the end of November, representing about 0.08 per cent of its total issued shares.
In addition, Wu said the company was investing heavily in the Hopewell Centre II development in Wan Chai, which will require a lot of investment in the coming years.
The company’s second-largest shareholder, Southeastern Asset Management, which owns 7.99 per cent of the company, in December had signalled its support for the delisting plan.
Shares of Hopewell closed at a one-year high of HK$37.9 on Thursday, up 4.12 per cent after the vote was held but before the result was released after the market close.
Hopewell’s privatisation follows Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company’s delisting last November after its parent Swire Pacific’s HK$2.99 billion privatisation plan was approved by shareholders.
Gordon Wu was among the first billionaires to invest in mainland China soon after the economic reforms started in 1978. Hopewell is known for many landmark projects, including the Hopewell Centre in Wan Chai, as well as the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Superhighway and the Western Delta Route.
