Update | ATV floats crowdfunding idea for public to buy 10pc stake
Socialite launches crowdfunding scheme to raise HK$30 million after ATV investor Wong Ching rejects three potential bids to buy stake
Asia Television has floated a crowdfunding plan to sell some of a 10.75 per cent stake in the troubled broadcaster after major investor Wong Ching refused to accept the price offered by three potential "white knights" from Hong Kong and the mainland.
The originator of the crowdfunding idea, socialite Alice Chiu Tsang Hok-wan, who worked for ATV predecessor Rediffusion Television, said she hoped Hongkongers could contribute HK$10,000 each to buy one share.
The plan emerged after negotiations between Wong and the three bidders reached a deadlock.
Derek Lai, managing partner for Deloitte China's southern region, who was appointed by a court to act as manager of the station and put the 10.75 per cent stake out to tender, declined to comment on whether Wong, who claimed that ATV owed him HK$2 billion, was making unreasonable demands for a high price.
"I urge shareholders to be rational," Lai said. "We are running out of time."
ATV's free-TV licence expires at the end of November and a 12-month notification of renewal is required. It was revealed in court that the Communications Authority did not recommend renewal and submitted its report to the Chief Executive in Council in November. But the council has yet to discuss the matter.
Wong controls 52 per cent of ATV through his relative Wong Ben-koon. The court ruled that Wong Ching had interfered with the running of the station and had jeopardised its future. The court ruled that ATV had to sell a 10.75 per cent stake to break his control over the station.
