leanrose - staying or exiting?

Interesting little announcement by Hutchison.

This suggests that Hutchison Whampoa has assisted Leanrose in some way to finance its current /continuing shareholding in HTA.

Prior to this announcement, Hutchison Whampoa held 392,353,358 shares (or 57.8%) in HTA, and
Leanrose held 84,958,747 shares (or 12.52%).

What this means for the future, remains to be seen. But, with Hutchison Whampoa also holding 906,206,358 convertible notes (ie: >99%), that will take them to ~87% (just shy of the 90% compulsory acquisition threshold, upon conversion). Add to this the 2% creep allowed for, and very quickly you could find Hutchison Whampoa moving to take out all minority interests in a compulsory acquisition exercise (with no takeover premium).

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HUTCHISON TELECOMMUNICATIONS (AUSTRALIA) 2003-05-19 ASX-SIGNAL-G

HOMEX - Sydney

+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hutchinson Communications (Australia) Pty Ltd increased its relevant
interest in Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) Limited on
15/05/2003, from 392,353,358 ordinary shares (57.8%) to 477,312,105
ordinary shares (70.34%).