Regulator Halts Stock's 543% Debut in Volatile Hong Kong Market

(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong traders are used to seeing strange things on the city’s small-cap exchange, home to some of the world’s biggest price swings. But the initial public offering of GME Group Holdings Ltd. on Wednesday had even hardened market watchers scratching their heads.

Shares of the tunnel excavating subcontractor rose 543 percent before they were suspended from 1 p.m. local time by the Securities and Futures Commission. The stock was trading for the first time on the city’s Growth Enterprise Market.

The move raised eyebrows in the former British colony, which is known for its laissez-faire markets and light-touch approach to regulation. It comes after a year in which initial public offerings on GEM soared by thousands of percentage points for reasons seemingly unrelated to company performance. Just last month, the SFC and the operator of the city’s exchanges issued a joint statement reminding participants to follow market rules.

“This is very surprising,” said Ricky Chim, who represents the financial services constituency in the city’s election committee, in reference to the suspension occurring on the stock’s first trading day. “It has never happened according to my recollection.”

GME Group stock jumped from HK$0.54 to HK$3.47 by the time of the halt, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. More than 20 million shares changed hands in the morning session, the data show.

That activity and price rise suggested to the regulator “that there may not be an open market in the trading of the shares” GME said in a statement released after the suspension.

No Reason

“The board is not aware of any reason that has caused the price movement of the shares or any information which must be announced to avoid a false market in the company’s securities or any inside information that needs to be disclosed,” GME said in the statement.

Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. and the SFC said in the January joint statement that many GEM stocks have highly concentrated shareholdings and a small shareholder base. Half of the 10 best first-day gainers in 2015 saw their share prices plunge by more than 90 percent from their peak within a month, they said. Several GEM placements, including clothing firm My Heart Bodibra, pulled their listings after the statement.

A spokesman for the SFC said the agency would not comment on an individual case, as did an HKEX spokesman.

Run-ups such as GME’s highlight quirks in Hong Kong’s market for small-caps, where wild swings are a regular occurrence, many firms have a tiny portion of their shares available to trade and mainland Chinese firms buy companies to engineer reverse takeovers.

Last year’s top performing IPO globally was Luen Wong Group Holdings Ltd., another GEM listed civil engineering firm, which rose 8,515 percent from its April debut through Dec. 31. Shortly after its listing, the SFC issued a warning about the stock because 96 percent of its outstanding shares were in the hands of the controlling shareholders and 19 other investors. Low trading volumes, with 790,000 shares changing hands each day, mean it’s vulnerable to extreme moves.

HKEX is planning to overhaul GEM and begin a public consultation on the exchange this year. CEO Charles Li said at a media event last month that such a review could be linked to a proposal to introduce a third exchange that may target professional investors and include new listings standards, including dual-class shares. He didn’t give specific timing for the plans.

Francis Lun, chief executive officer of GEO Securities Ltd., said it was the first time he knew of a stock being suspended on its first day.

“A question is how can the authorities list if they have questions,” he said. “They should stop it before it gets listed.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Benjamin Robertson in Hong Kong at brobertson29@bloomberg.net, Crystal Tse in Hong Kong at ctse44@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sam Mamudi at smamudi@bloomberg.net, Michael Patterson

©2017 Bloomberg L.P.