Shares of Tsingtao Brewery Co. surged in Shanghai after the parent of China's largest beermaker increased its compensation offer to minority investors by a third in exchange for making all the company's shares tradable.

The yuan-denominated shares jumped by their 10 percent daily limit to 12.44 yuan as they resumed trading for the first time in more than three weeks after being suspended while the company's state-owned major shareholder formulated its offer.

Tsingtao Brewery, 27 percent owned by Anheuser-Busch Cos., is joining a government program to convert more than $250 billion of non-tradable stock into shares that can be bought and sold on exchanges. The beermaker needs the approval of minority shareholders, which include The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Merrill Lynch & Co., to carry out the conversion plan.

The Qingdao State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Tsingtao's controlling shareholder, plans to offer 1.79 bonus shares and 2.4 yuan in cash for every 10 held by minority investors, the listed company said yesterday. The offer, which is equivalent to 2 shares per 10 held, was increased from 1.5 shares offered in a Sept. 11 statement.

Tsingtao Brewery's yuan shares have jumped 50 percent this year, matching the increase in the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index. The company's Hong Kong-traded shares rose 4.2 percent to close at HK$10.48 and have gained 28 percent this year.

Source:佚名