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There were some seriously big deals done by directors last week, but the one likely to get the tongues flapping would surely be a sizeable selloff by Discovery founder Adrian Gore. In three tranches, Gore sold more than R50m worth of Discovery Holdings [JSE:DSY] shares at prices ranging between 3845c and 3888c. He also donated 155 304 shares – worth R6m – to members of his family.
The highly inventive Discovery has been one of the great financial services success stories in recent years and – as colleague Bruce Whitfield pointed out last week – there’s no stopping the group in chasing new endeavours. Of course, those more cautious market watchers (just as they did during Investec [JSE:INL] and PSG Group [JSE:PSG] ’s early successes) often ask whether Discovery hasn’t run too hard and too quickly.
Now having a prime mover like Gore selling off stock worth R50m could raise a few sceptical eyebrows. But (big BUT) Gore still has plenty of skin in Discovery’s game. His shares sold and donated represent just 2,7% of Gore’s holding in Discovery. He still holds a rather substantial 53,8m shares in Discovery, equating to a stake of around 9% in the group. That stake is worth R2,2bn, which should put a R50m sale and R6m donation into context.
Elsewhere on the table Finweek was most surprised to see Distell Group [JSE:DST] directors Jan Scannell (CEO) and financial director Merwe Botha selling shares worth R9m.
Whatever their reasons for cashing in some big tots, Scannell and Botha have at least helped with liquidity in a share perhaps too tightly held.
Lastly, to the reader who accused us of running a bet to see if we could mention property magnate Des de Beer’s name every week in this column: it’s simply not true. We were merely amazed at the capacity De Beer had for buying a variety of property stocks. But there it is. We’ve named him again.
The highly inventive Discovery has been one of the great financial services success stories in recent years and – as colleague Bruce Whitfield pointed out last week – there’s no stopping the group in chasing new endeavours. Of course, those more cautious market watchers (just as they did during Investec [JSE:INL] and PSG Group [JSE:PSG] ’s early successes) often ask whether Discovery hasn’t run too hard and too quickly.
Now having a prime mover like Gore selling off stock worth R50m could raise a few sceptical eyebrows. But (big BUT) Gore still has plenty of skin in Discovery’s game. His shares sold and donated represent just 2,7% of Gore’s holding in Discovery. He still holds a rather substantial 53,8m shares in Discovery, equating to a stake of around 9% in the group. That stake is worth R2,2bn, which should put a R50m sale and R6m donation into context.
Elsewhere on the table Finweek was most surprised to see Distell Group [JSE:DST] directors Jan Scannell (CEO) and financial director Merwe Botha selling shares worth R9m.
Whatever their reasons for cashing in some big tots, Scannell and Botha have at least helped with liquidity in a share perhaps too tightly held.
Lastly, to the reader who accused us of running a bet to see if we could mention property magnate Des de Beer’s name every week in this column: it’s simply not true. We were merely amazed at the capacity De Beer had for buying a variety of property stocks. But there it is. We’ve named him again.
