http://www.copyright link/p/business/companies/signs_hochtief_leighton_o...

http://www.afr.com/p/business/companies/signs_hochtief_leighton_offer_was_vO7tgKKHwdP2bMJxKSOwJI

Shareholders in the Spanish controlled Leighton Holdings are finally being given the liquidity opportunity that should have occurred two years ago when Madrid-based ACS took control of Leighton’s German based controlling shareholder Hochtief.

That liquidity opportunity is being overshadowed by the fact that the offer at $21.15 a share appears to have been leaked last week.

Leighton shares soared 15 per cent between close of trading on Wednesday and Friday’s close on turnover that was much higher than normal. Leighton usually trades about one million shares a day but 8 million shares were traded on Thursday and Friday.

An ASIC spokesman confirmed to Bloomberg that the corporate cop will be reviewing the company's share price moves, but added that "this is something that falls within our day-to-day market surveillance activity and it is nothing out of the ordinary".

The inevitable investigation by the ASIC will focus on the identity of those who bought and sold shares. The situation is made more interesting because about 24 million Leighton shares were sold short. That is about 7 per cent of the issued capital but about 17 per cent of the free float.

Hochtief made clear on Monday that it was not buying stock in Leighton last week. It has not bought stock since January.

And Hochtief's to take control of Leighton have run into immediate problems with sharemarket investors over-bidding its intended offer price.

Leighton shares last traded at $23.03, 4 per cent above the offer price


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets-live/markets-live-rio-tinto-plunges-5-20140310-34g50.html#ixzz2vWfVmv9s