(Yicai Global) June 1 -- Shares of Kangtai Biological Products slumped today after the Chinese vaccine maker said that its chairman will need to carry out the biggest divorce settlement among the actual controllers of Chinese listed firms.

Kangtai's stock price [SHE: 300601] was 4 percent down in the afternoon after tumbling as much as 6.9 percent in the morning.

Chairman Du Weimin needs to give his former spouse Yuan Liping about CNY23.5 billion (USD3.3 billion) worth of the company's shares, or about a 24 percent stake, the Shenzhen-based firm said in a statement on May 29. That means that his shareholding will fall to 27.3 percent.

Several netizens suspected that the move was the couple's plot to take advantage of the recent stock price rally of one of China's biggest hepatitis B vaccine manufacturers while avoiding any possible lock-up periods applicable to Du, per their Weibo posts.

But Yuan will need to abide by any commitment made by Du at the time of the firm's initial public offering, said Kangtai. The company went public in February 2017. This year, its share price has risen more than 66 percent to exceed CNY100 billion.

Before this, game developer Kunlun Tech's Chairman Zhou Yahui lost the largest amount of assets, CNY7.5 billion, in his divorce in 2016.

Last year, Kangtai's net profit rose by 32 percent to CNY573 million (USD80.3 million) from 2018, while its revenue fell by 4 percent to CNY1.9 billion.

Editor: Emmi Laine










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