Insider trades

Insider trades: Asia Insider notes that for the week ending 8 Apr, director buying picked up after staying flat for three weeks.

Insider buying: 17 companies had 32 purchases worth $1.01m versus 13 firms with 26 purchases worth $3.25m the previous week.

Insider selling: One firm saw two disposals valued at $0.2m, similar to two disposals of a company worth $2.8m the prior week.

Buybacks: 11 companies made 27 repurchases worth $7.62m compared to eight firms with 21 trades worth $7.5m the week before.

Notable transactions:
iX Biopharma: Independent director Ko Kheng Hwa bought 100,000 shares from 5-6 Apr at $0.38 each. The trades accounted for 25% of the stock’s trading volume. The came after another independent director Low Weng Keong purchased 90,000 shares earlier in Jan at an average of $0.446. The stock was listed in Jul ’15 on Catalist at an IPO price of $0.46.

Mermaid Maritime: CEO Charlermchai Mahagitsiri resumed his purchases at lower than previous prices, acquiring 596,000 shares from 4-5 Apr at $0.11 each. The trades, accounted for 11% of the stock’s trading volume, and increased his stake to 68.9%, and came on the back of a 42% drop in share price since Oct. He previously acquired 15.2m shares from Jul ’13 to Aug ’15 at an average of $0.295 each.

Hyflux: Mondrian Investment Partners disposed 181,000 shares on 5 Apr at $0.605 each, reducing its holdings to 6.98%. This follows a 29% rebound in share price since the last week of Jan. The fund previously disposed 1.6m shares on 23 Nov last year at $0.64.

Golden Agri: Silchester Int'l Investors recorded a rare sale on 4 Apr, releasing 10m shares at $0.425 each. The trade reduced its holdings to 10.94%, after its share price rebounded 35% since Dec.