BEA Shares Surge As Chairman Buys Into His Bank

Tom Burroughes

23 February 2016

Shares in , the bank in the sights of shareholder activist Elliott, surged 9.4 per cent in one day after a large shareholder expanded his stake, reports said.

The Hong Kong-headquartered bank’s shares were up 9.4 per cent yesterday, at HK$26.50 ($3.41) per share; at one stage they rose 10 per cent.

The move was seen by media reports as a response to news that chairman David Li had bought 110,000 shares last week, expanding his holdings to 86.74 million shares, reports of his filings with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange said.

Elliott, which has a 7 per cent stake in the lender, has been calling for the bank to be sold. The activist has been fiercely critical of BEA’s financial performance. The bank reported a fall in full-year profits for 2015 last week. (To see a story on the shareholder activism, click here. Click here for the bank’s results.)

Li bought 100,000 shares at an average price of HK$22.28 each on 16 February and a separate 10,000 shares at an average HK$22.35 apiece on 17 February, Business Times reported, citing the filings.