Johannesburg - Woolworths Holdings [JSE:WHL] chief executive officer Ian Moir sold shares worth R51m this week, reducing his stake in South Africa’s biggest retailer by market value.
Moir sold 575 381 Woolworths shares on Thursday after the call options came due on zero-cost collar hedges, a type of trading strategy, that the executive entered into a year earlier, Cape Town-based Woolworths said in a statement on Friday.
The current share price exceeds the option strike price of R88.55, the retailer said. The obligations under the options have now ended.
Moir, who has been CEO of Woolworths since November 2010, held at least 1.55 million Woolworths shares as of September 25, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The stock was little changed at R97.98 as of 14:49 in Johannesburg, valuing the company at R94bn.
Woolworths chairperson Simon Susman also sold stock on Thursday, the company said. Susman disposed of 130 000 shares, for a total value of R12.75m.