Shares of KB LAMINATES (SEHK: 01888) opened sharply lower, declining more than 5% in early trading. At the time of writing, the stock was down 5.12% to HK$8.15, with a turnover of HK$6.283 billion.

The move follows an announcement by the company that its controlling shareholder conducted a large block sale at a significant discount. Prior to the trading session, wholly-owned subsidiary Kingboard Investments of the controlling shareholder, KINGBOARD HLDG (SEHK: 00148), entered into a block trade agreement to place 155 million shares at HK$7.6 per share, raising approximately HK$11.78 billion.

This placement price represents a discount of about 11.53% compared to the company's previous closing price of HK$8.59 per share. The shares being sold constitute roughly 4.92% of the laminate producer's existing issued share capital.

Following the completion of this transaction, the stake held by the controlling shareholder group in the company will decrease from approximately 66.62% to about 61.70%. Despite this reduction, the laminate producer will remain a non-wholly owned subsidiary of the group.

As per the block trade agreement, Kingboard Investments has undertaken not to dispose of any further shares for a period of 60 days after the agreement date, excluding the shares sold under this specific placement.