Pine Agritech co-founder sells 5% stake

SOME 31 million shares in Pine Agritech were sold in a single transaction yesterday morning at $2.40 a share, accounting for almost all of the activity in the stock by the end of the day.

The stock shot up to a 52-week high of $2.82 during the day.

The seller of the shares was Dai Yonghu, the general manager in charge of purchasing at Pine Agritech and one of the three founders of the maker of soybean products.

The sale, through Achievement Way Corporation, slashed Mr Dai's deemed interest from 9.75 per cent or 58.5 million shares to 4.58 per cent or 27.5 million shares.

Mr Dai joined the company in 2004.

Pine Agritech did not say who the buyer was but brokers said that it is likely to be a fund manager in the US which has been interested in a substantial stake in Pine for a 'long time'.

The identity of the buyer is likely to be known in the next few days.

'The stock has been trading at a pretty rich valuation for a while, so it is a good time to get out,' said an analyst. 'It's now 33 times forward earnings.'

Shares of Pine Agritech have shot up several times since it was listed at 57.5 cents in May last year.

Kim Eng and UOB Kay Hian are some of the brokerages that have been maintaining 'buy' recommendations on the stock.

The biggest shareholders of Pine Agritech are now People's Food, with a 36.75 per cent stake; Pine Agritech's chief executive Li Zhuping, who has 9.75 per cent; executive director Hu Fabao, who has 9.75 per cent; Dai Yonghu, 4.58 per cent; and David Loh, Han Seng Juan and Cheung Yick Choong, who each have 3 per cent in the company.

By the end of the day, 33.88 million shares were traded, as the stock went up 3.7 per cent on the day to close at $2.82.