Trading Places: The latest small explorer Tolga Kumova has sunk his teeth into

Want to know which stocks the fund managers have been putting their money in (and out) of? We’ve been keeping track so you don’t have to.

Trading Places is Stockhead’s recap of substantial holder movements among ASX small caps in the last fortnight.

Substantial shareholders are shareholders holding 5 per cent or more of a company’s shares and these can be directors, individual investors or institutional investors.

Shareholders are required to announce to the exchange when they cross above or below the 5 per cent threshold and any change in their holdings while they remain above 5 per cent.

Buyers

Yesterday gold junior Riversgold (ASX:RGL) announced a capital raising and its share price doubled. Participating in the capital raising was well-known mining investor Tolga Kumova, who now has a 5.29 per cent stake.

Kumova’s past investments include graphite play Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR), which he got into in 2010. He served as the company’s managing director between 2014 and 2016, taking it from a penny stock to an ASX200 listee.

But since his departure from Syrah, shares have fallen a long way from the heady peak of over $6 a share in mid-2016. They were last trading at 31c.

Riversgold is a similar size to what Syrah was back in 2010. It has projects in Western Australia, South Australia and Alaska and raised $1.5m in the deal that saw Kumova become a substantial holder.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong-founded hedge fund Argyle Street Management bought a 14.2 per cent stake in MetalsX (ASX:MLX). This company says it’s Australia’s largest tin producer but also owns copper, nickel and cobalt assets.

Naos Asset Management has topped up its stake in adventure tourism company Experience Co (ASX:EXP) to 17.13 per cent. It also bought more of property developer Eureka Group (ASX:EGH).

Perennial Value Management’s buys included shares in Marley Spoon (ASX:MMM) and x-ray maker Micro-X (ASX:MX1). The latter was also backed by Alex Waislitz’s Thorney Technologies.

Child internet safety stocks have also been popular in the past fortnight. Regal Funds Management now owns 5.45 per cent of Family Zone Cyber Safety (ASX:FZO), while Merchant Funds Management now owns 10.86 per cent of Family Insights Group (ASX:FAM).

Sellers

Avita Medical (ASX:AVH) is one of the best success stories on the ASX, growing from a microcap with an uncertain future to an ASX200 stock.

The burns treatment specialist is looking to delve into more medical markets and will formally redomicile itself to the US. One of its institutional investors, Karst Peak Capital, reduced its holdings to below 4 per cent having held nearly 20 per cent in late 2018.

Investors Mutual reduced its holdings in retailer Myer (ASX:MYR) and IT stock ARQ Group (ASX:ARQ), two companies that have been under financial pressure over the last several months.

Chalice Gold Mines (ASX:CHN) saw hot demand for its recent capital raising, setting the bar at $30m but getting over $75m in bids.

Director Timothy Goyder sold over $10m in shares to allow some of the institutions that missed out to come in, but he still owns over 13 per cent of the firm.