Hot stock: Sapphire gains as HK property firm turns substantial shareholder

SHARES of Sapphire Corp rose on Thursday after it said two of its largest shareholders are selling a 27.96 per cent stake in the company to Hong Kong-listed Hong Kong International Construction Investment Management Group (HKICIM) in a share swap that values the shares of the investment management firm at 51 Singapore cents apiece.

The stock was up 2.5 Singapore cents to S$0.33 as at 9.30am. Some 2.3 million shares changed hands.

Sapphire is an investment management and holding company mainly engaged in the rail and infrastructure engineering, procurement and construction business. HKICIM is mainly engaged in the business of property development, foundation piling and site investigation in Hong Kong, as well as property investment and management.

HKICIM will allot a maximum of 24.9 million and 40.5 million ordinary shares to the two Sapphire shareholders, Best Feast and Ou Rui, respectively, at HK$4.08 each.

Sapphire closed at S$0.32 on Thursday, up 1.5 cent.