Market speculation that Hainan Meilan International Airport Co will speed up its acquisition program, after its strategic investor sold all its shares in the company, boosted shares by more than a third on June 6.

Shares of the the airport operator at Haikou in Hainan province jumped as much as 37.7 percent before closing at HK$6.70, up 35.7 percent.

Meilan Airport said Copenhagen Airports - its strategic investor since its debut on the Hong Kong bourse in December 2002 - has sold its entire holding of 94.6 million H shares in Meilan Airport at HK$5.75 apiece, representing a total consideration of HK$544 million, according to the statement it filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The price of HK$5.75 a share represents a premium of 16.63 percent over the closing price of HK$4.93 on June 5.

The attributable shares - about 41.7 percent of the existing H shares or 20 percent of the total shares issued - were sold to Oriental Patron Resources Investment, a Hong Kong-based investment bank.

Market watchers view the divestment as positive because it will ease the way for Meilan Airport to acquire more airports from its parent or rivals, a policy that Copenhagen Airports disagreed with.

"We also believe that it may clear the way for Meilan Airport to resume negotiations to acquire its close rival, Sanya Phoenix Airport, should Meilan Airport so choose," a report by Morgan Stanley said.

The investment bank believes the misalignment between Copenhagen Airports and Meilan Airport may have led to Meilan Airport missing the chance to acquire Sanya Airport.

Macquarie also views the deal as positive for the same reason as Morgan Stanley.

"We suspect the purchaser could be treating this as a strategic entry stake and we expect to see further developments that may benefit the company's value to justify the significant premium paid," it said.

It added that the management of Oriental Patron appears to have close ties with the Hainan provincial government.

Macquarie and Citigroup set the target price for Meilan Airport at HK$5.10 and HK$4.68 respectively.

Passenger volume at Meilan Airport grew slightly by 0.37 percent to 2.66 million in the first four months this year, and air cargo volume jumped 15.5 percent year on year to 44,721 tonnes.