Electricity producer Tri-Star Power Limited (PSX: TSPL) said on Monday the potential Turkish acquirer Aykut Çalikuu is causing “undue movement” in the share price of the company.
In a stock filing, the company said there is undue movement in its share price, which has increased from Rs. 3.6 to Rs. 19.12 between July 1st, 2022 and February 28th, 2023. Further, there are reasonable grounds for concluding that it is the potential acquirer’s actions that have led to this situation.
The filing read, “There is no development or any material change in the business of the Target Company, which may have resulted in a substantial increase of 531 percent in the price of shares of the Target Company in a short span of 8 months, with being 870 percent annualized return, which is an astronomical increase in the price of a share of the Target Company, reflecting manipulation by the Acquirer either directly or indirectly through the persons acting in concert”.
“The movement in the share price of the Target Company is from Rs. 3.60 on 1st July 2022 to Rs. 19.12 (closing price) on 28th February 2023. Apparently, the Acquirer directly or indirectly, in concert with others, had been illegally accumulating shares of the Target Company without disclosing the same which is in violation of the Securities Act 2015 and listed Companies (Substantial Acquisition of Voting Shares and Takeovers) Regulations 2017,” it added.
The closing price of the shares on 8th March 2023 was Rs. 16.04 and after the Public Announcement of Intention to acquire more than 51 percent of shares and control of the target company by the Manager to the Offer on 9th March 2023, there was a continuous declining trend in the price. The closing price of 10th March 2023 was Rs. 13.93 witnessing a sharp decline of Rs. 2.11, being 13 percent decline in just 2 days.
At the time of filing, the company’s scrip at the bourse was Rs. 12.59, down 7.49 percent or Rs. 1.02 with a turnover of 216,500 shares on Tuesday.
TSPL says there is a serious effort of price manipulation by the Acquirer either directly or indirectly. “The proposed Acquirer is not a shareholder of the Target Company. He is a Turkish citizen and a Civil Engineer by profession and not a known investor and does not even have an a/c with CDC. The Acquirer neither has the means nor the net worth to undertake such a transaction and is merely acting as a frontman on behalf of others in order to bypass the Regulations,” the filing clarified.
TSPL has requested the Securities Exchange to make the above information immediately available to the shareholders of the Target Company by placing it on the notice board and through a notification on the automated information system and making an announcement on the house of the Exchange.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and the Pakistan Stock Exchange are requested to take immediate notice of this illegal attempt of acquiring the Target Company and pass appropriate orders restraining the Acquirer from proceeding further in the matter.
