Changsha Zoomlion Heavy Industries said its executives bought company shares worth more than U.S. $22 million in a show of confidence after several media reports accused it of falsifying sales data, Reuters in Shanghai reported. The media allegations began earlier this year after a Hong Kong newspaper reported receiving an anonymous letter questioning the sales figures released by Zoomlion, China’s second-largest construction equipment manufacturer.
Zoomlion has strongly denied the allegations. Twenty-one senior executives, including chairman Zhan Chunxin, bought 19.4 million Zoomlion shares from the stock market last week, using their own money, the company said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Zoomlion senior executives bought shares collectively during the global financial crisis of 2008.
Zoomlion and other Chinese construction equipment manufacturers have struggled with slower economic growth and reduced demand recently, although some analysts are predicting some degree of recovery this year.
