Southeast Asian block trades raise $917 million

It has been a busy few weeks in the equity capital markets as issuers and existing shareholders take advantage of the latest market window to sell stock before companies move into a blackout period before their six-month earnings. Last night saw another three blocks hit the market, raising a combined $917 million.

The largest of them, by far, was a sell-down in Malaysian mobile operator Maxis by its controlling shareholder, which at the final price totalled M$2.36 billion $740 million. This made it the largest overnight block trade ever in Malaysia and the largest in Southeast Asia since Siam Cement raised $1.1 billion from a sell-down in Thailand’s PTT...