Korsak Chairasmisak, vice-chairman of CP All (CPALL), sold a big lot of shares of the convenience store operator shortly before CP Axtra (CPAXT) announced its multi-billion-baht investment in a real estate project, resulting in a plunge of both companies' share prices.
Mr Korsak sold 877,100 units of CPALL shares on Dec 3 at 62.88 baht apiece for 55 million baht. The sale was reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Dec 13.
He still holds 5,249,471 shares of the 7-Eleven operator following the transaction.
CPAXT, which operates retail and wholesale businesses for Charoen Pokphand (CP) group, informed the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) on Dec 16 about its investment of nearly 8 billion baht in the "Happitat at Forestias" project through subsidiary Axtra Growth Plus (AGP).
Following CP Axtra's an-nouncement, shares of both CPALL and CPAXT fell con- siderably.
On Dec 16, the SET index dropped by 12 points, with eight points of the decline attributed to losses by CPALL and CPAXT.
CPALL, the largest shareholder of CPAXT, is affected because of the operating results and the share price of the latter. Both firms are large-cap retail stocks, mostly held by institutional investors' portfolios.
The recent incident reminded market regulators and investors about the SEC's announcement on Dec 2, 2015, fining Mr Korsak, then an executive and director of CPALL, for insider trading in Siam Makro (MAKRO) shares with three other indi- viduals.
Back then, CPALL negotiated to buy MAKRO shares from SHV Netherlands B.V. (SHV) at a price of 787 baht each, which was significantly higher than the market price at that time.
SET president Asadej Kongsiri said the bourse closely monitored the CPAXT transaction as it has captured the interest and concern of investors.
CP Axtra clarified information about the Happitat project via the SET's electronic system on Monday.
The issue of investment links in related businesses in the same group of companies will be supervised by the SEC, said Mr Asadej.