China Resources shares slide as chairman Song Lin is sacked and faces corruption probe

Shares of the five Hong Kong-listed units of China Resources Holdings tumbled yesterday, as investors reacted to news over the long weekend that the state-owned conglomerate's former chairman, Song Lin, had been sacked and the mainland's graft watchdog had started investigating him for corruption.

China Resources Power (CRP), the largest of the five by market capitalisation, saw the biggest fall of 9.6 per cent to close at HK$18.98. It had fallen as much as 11.9 per cent - the steepest decline since November 2008.

Retailing-to-brewing conglomerate China Resources Enterprises (CRE) fell 4.2 per cent to HK$21.90. Developer China Resources Land slid 3 per cent to HK$16.26. Natural gas distributor China Resources Gas fell 2.7 per cent to HK$23, and China Resources Cement dropped 4.1 per cent to HK$5.82.

Last night China Resources Land said Wang Hongkun had resigned as an executive director and vice-chairman of its board for health reasons.

Wang had been vice-chairman of China Resources Land since June. He joined the company in 2011, having worked at the parent company since 1993.

In July, two mainland journalists accused Song of being the mastermind behind CRP's alleged overpayment for a basket of coal mining-related assets, which resulted in losses for the state and minority shareholders. The overpayment was said to amount to several billion yuan.