After failing to gain much lift following its debut a year ago as Hong Kong’s first publicly traded aircraft maker, Cirrus Aircraft Ltd. (2507.HK) is drawing new investor attention as its stock takes flight this year. That may have prompted major shareholder, state-run aviation giant Aviation Industry Corp. of China (AVIC), to take advantage of the big gains to sell down some of its stake this month.
Cirrus disclosed that AVIC sold 17.5 million shares at HK$39.98 each on July 3 – representing an 8% discount to the stock’s close the previous day. The sale represented 4.78% of Cirrus’ outstanding shares and netted AVIC nearly HK$700 million in proceeds, dropping its stake in the aircraft maker to 80.18% from a previous 84.97%.
The disclosure brought the stock back to earth somewhat, as the shares skidded as much as 7.4% the next day before steadying above HK$40 to end down 3% at HK$42.15. Such surprising resilience in the face of a major stake sale piqued investor interest, prompting some to take a closer look at the U.S.-based aircraft maker and its prospects.