Hot stock: China Merchants up 19% on privatisation offer

CHINA Merchants Holdings (Pacific) rose 19.4 per cent to S$1.015 - at one point even hitting S$1.03 - after it was offered on Monday S$1.02 per share by offeror Easton Overseas Ltd to take it private.

By 10.41 am, some 5.6 million shares had changed hands, much higher than its average three-month volume of 0.56 million shares.

In a Monday note, CIMB had advised clients that the offer price was good and that they should take it. It said that the firm could be at risk from China's slowing growth among other things. Traffic growth at CM Pacific's four newly acquired toll roads might also not meet aggressive projected forecasts, CIMB said.

CIMB also said that CM Pacific's owners might have decided to delist the firm as it had mostly not traded at a valuation above book value, where it makes more sense to issue shares to fund asset purchases.