New | China Vanke approves buy-back of 10 billion yuan worth of A-shares

China Vanke’s board has approved a share buy-back of up to 10 billion yuan (HK$12.66 billion), making it the first mainland firm to launch such a plan to prop up its shares in the market.

“To protect investors’ interests in view of the recent instability of the A-share market, the board agreed and proposed to the shareholders at the general meeting to consider the…proposal for the repurchase of the company’s A-shares,” the company announced on Monday.

The company set a cap on how much it would buy back its shares.

“In order to protect investors’ interest, the proposed price of the repurchase of the company’s A-share should not exceed 13.70 yuan per share, which is the closing price of the company’s A-share on 3 July, 2015,” the company said.

The mainland property developer’s move came after 21 of the largest brokerages in mainland China agreed on Saturday to pool together a 120 billion yuan (HK$150 billion) fund aimed at propping up the stock market.

Vanke’s statement follows scores of others from China-listed firms last week saying major shareholders or top managers have increased their holdings in a bid to shore up confidence and head off a full-blown stock market crash that would threaten the world’s second-largest economy.