A total of 10.12 per cent of DE Capital Plc shares were traded through three big lots on the stock market in the morning trading session yesterday.

Shortly after the big-lot transactions were reported, the Stock Exchange of Thailand  halted trading of DE Capital shares. Later, the SET allowed trading to resume after Distar Electric Corp Plc, DE Capital's major shareholder, reported it had sold an additional 5.02-per-cent stake that was part of the big lots.

A trader said there were market rumours that ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's younger brother, Payap Shinawatra, would launch a tender offer for DE Capital shares at a price of Bt1.50 apiece.

The stock yesterday jumped to the day's peak of Bt1.52 after the rumour spread, then weakened to close up 10.4 per cent at Bt1.38.

The three big lots were involved in trading of 53.4 million shares at a price of Bt1.21 each for a total of Bt528 million.

Distar Electric said the company had yesterday sold 26.5 million shares of DE Capital to Evergreen Group Investment. The company's shareholding was reduced to 5.21 per cent as a result.

DE Capital said the company was waiting for an answer from the other major shareholders that had sold the remaining stock.

Earlier, there were seven big-lot transactions of DE Capital, from October 3-12.

There were two big-lot transactions involving 25.7 million shares total, traded at a price of Bt1.10 each on October 3. Two big-lot transactions with a total of 25 million shares selling for Bt1.10 a share were made on October 5, and two with 15.9 million shares selling for Bt1.18 a share were made and October 9.

One big-lot transaction with 23.5 million shares selling for Bt1.12 each was made on October 12.

DE Capital reported its shareholders structure as of last Thursday: Distar Electric's shareholding declined from 22.33 per cent to 10.23 per cent, the Wattanasombat Group's dropped from 14.04 per cent to 4.93 per cent, and the Theekhakhirikul Group's increased from 5.28 per cent to 7.50 per cent.

Distar Electric managing director Rashanee Engpanyalert said proceeds from the share sales would be used to expand its business to service its debts.

DE Cap's second-quarter net loss was widened from Bt16.23 million in the same period last year to Bt126.37 million.

Siriporn Chanjindamanee

The Nation