Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, the pension fund for government and education employees in the Netherlands, bought convertible bonds of Chinese juice maker Huiyuan (01886.HK) on May 23, according to a disclosure issued by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The bonds were equivalent to a 6.3 percent stake in the company.

Warburg Pincus redeemed convertible bonds worth 98.98 million shares on May 19, shrinking its share proportion from 6.98 percent to 0.24 percent. The Royal Bank of Scotland sold the rest of the bonds, which had been loaned to the bank, three days later.

According to a public statement by Huiyuan on June 10, Warburg Pincus had notified China's leading juice maker that it would sell the remaining US$2.3-million convertible bonds, which were equivalent to 3.54 million shares or 0.24 percent stake in the company. When the sales are completed, Warburg Pincus will have fully withdrawn its investment in Huiyuan.

Other investors also will buy bonds sold by Warburg Pincus.

The statement also said that Zhu Xinli, chairman and controlling shareholder of Huiyuan Juice, had no plans to redeem shares in the company, which analysts see as a measure to stabilize Huiyuan's price in the stock market.

Yesterday, Huiyuan closed at HK $5.69, down 1.56 percent. The Heng Seng Index fell 1.8 percent.

Chinese story link: http://www.dfdaily.com/node2/node27/node120/userobject1ai174204.shtml

(China.org.cn June 17, 2009)