Shares of meat processor China Yurun Food Group Ltd (1068.HK), in which Temasek and buyout firm Hopu invested last year, suffered their biggest ever fall on Monday on market talk that short-seller Muddy Waters would issue a report on the company.
Shares of overseas-listed Chinese companies, especially those in North America, have taken a beating recently on concern over their accounting practices after a spike in scandals and shareholder lawsuits alleging fraud.
The nearly 20% tumble in Yurun’s shares came as Mirae Asset Securities said in a note that markets were betting the company would be the target of the next Muddy Waters report. It also reiterated its “reduce” rating on the stock, partly on potential government intervention to stem pork price increases.
“There has been talks in the mainland about Muddy Waters (of Sino Forest fame, www.muddywatersresearch.com/)trying to issue a report on one mainland company. The market is betting that it will be on YURUN.”
“Muddy Waters has setups in the mainland for channel checks and ground research. Therefore, the market’s speculation on them issuing a Yurun report can be well-grounded,” the note, obtained by Reuters, said.
Muddy Waters was not immediately available for comment while an investor relations official at Yurun declined to comment.
Chinese buyout firm Hopu and Singapore wealth fund Temasek had bought US$247 million ($307 million) worth of shares in Yurun from the company’s controlling shareholder Willie Holdings, a source had said in April 2010.
It was not immediately clear how much these investors owned in Yurun as of Monday. Temasek was not immediately available for comment.
Investors in Nanjing-based Yurun also include JPMorgan Asset Management (Hong Kong), Fidelity Management & Research Co and ING Investment Management (Netherlands), according to Thomson Reuters StreetSight.
Turnover in Yurun’s shares surged on Monday with over 11 times its average 30-day volume changing hands. Short-selling was 17% of the turnover, making the stock the second-most shorted stock in value for the second successive day, rare for a small-cap.
Bearish bets in Yurun shares have picked up steam this past week lifting the average daily shorted volume for June to 28.6% of turnover compared with about 9% for the Hong Kong market.
Shares of Toronto-listed Sino-Forest Corp (TRE.TO) have plunged more than 85% this month, following accusations of fraud leveled by Hong Kong-based short-seller Carson Block and his firm Muddy Waters.
Earlier in June, Standard & Poor’s ratings agency withdrew ratings on Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Ltd (2689.HK), saying the Hong Kong-listed paper recycler had “an aggressive debt-funded growth appetite” and was not allowing sufficient access to management to judge its strategy.
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