Share pledging in China: Industrials sector at a greater risk
The concerns over excessive pledged shares continue to haunt the stock market in China for quite some time. On October 23, the Shanghai Composite index lost 2.26 percent as investors remained pessimistic about risks posed by shares pledged for loans.
Heckyl’s analysis of pledged shares data showed the pledged shareholding for 1,836 (52.7%) out of 3,485 Chinese companies was higher than 10% as on October 19 (Image 1). For 148 companies, the pledged shareholding was greater than 50% based on the latest data at CSDC.
[Image 1: Breakup of the number of companies by pledged shares holding]
The 5 most stressed sectors (having a maximum number of companies with pledged shares greater than 10% of shareholding) were Industrials, Technology Hardware & Equipment, Materials, Pharmaceuticals, and Chemicals.
[Image 2: Sector-wise breakup of the number of companies by pledged shares holding]
Here, we have highlighted 5 companies with a significant pledged shareholding:
Shanghai Raas Blood Products Co Ltd (71.3%)
Wheelock and Co Ltd (64.1%)
Giant Network Group Co Ltd (61.9%)
Zhejiang Century Huatong Group Co Ltd (61.1%)
China Grand Automotive Services Co Ltd (55.9%)
In our view, substantial pledging of shares by the promoters is a potential red-flag as it is an indication of the stress that has piled up on corporate finances. Moreover, a significant drop in the company’s share price may result in the invocation of pledged shares. This may also lead to loss of management control for the promoters.
Heckyl’s FiND Credit Risk EWS captures company-related red-flags based on a variety of business rules. Our intelligent EWS application can help lenders to get an early warning about the deterioration in corporate borrowers’ financial profile ahead of time.
To know more about FiND Credit Risk EWS, email us at info@heckyl.com
