Trading Places: This week’s substantial holder movements – from Gina Rinehart to short term fund managers

In this weekly column, Stockhead overviews all substantial holder filings of ASX small caps. Substantial shareholders are those holding 5 per cent or more and these could be directors, individual investors or institutions.

Companies are required to announce when new substantial holders have come on board, when they have ceased to be shareholders or when they change their holdings.

Entrances

At the end of last week, Gina Rinehart spent $13m on a 11% direct stake in Victorian gold exporer Catalyst Metals (ASX: CYL). This came only a few days after Catalyst came across its largest ever prospect of 1m at 1,380g/t.

While Gina Rinehart was the richest person to appear this week, the richest institution was UBS which took a 5.82% stake in RuralCo Holdings (ASX: RHL). UBS been trading RuralCo shares all year but its purchase of 2 million shares for over $9 million last Wednesday took its holdings to 6.1 million – 5.82%.

Fidelity bought 5% stakes in Pensana Metals (ASX: PM8) and Anctinogen (ASX: ACW) which would have cost over $4 million all up.

Selector Funds Management, the best performing long-only Australian fund last year, bought a 5.56% stake in Infomedia (ASX: IFM).

China Magnesium (ASX: CMC) issued a 15.1% stake to a Singaporean real estate investor Sovran White, controlled by former MP Peh Chin Hua. While its core business is lithium in Northern China, it formed an agreement with Sovran to provide consulting services as Sovran’s seek to export fruit grown at its plantations in China.

Company	Code	Market Cap	Holder	Stake
China Magnesium	CMC	$8.7M	Sovran White	0.151
Flinders Mines	FMS	$135.9M	Requisitioning shareholders	0.0603
Verdant Minerals	VRM	$33.1M	CD Capital Natural Resources Fund	0.3343
Actinogen	ACW	$61.5M	Fidelity	0.0504
Infomedia	IFM	$553.0M	Selector Funds Management	0.0556
Antisense Therapeutics	ANP	$14.2M	CityCastle	0.0615
Catalyst Metals	CYL	$167.1M	Gina Rinehart, Hancock Prospecting	0.11
RedHill Education	RDH	$82.5M	Acorn Capital	0.0506
RuralCo Holdings	RHL	$465.4M	UBS	0.0582
Windlab	WND	$75.7M	Rhodium Capital	0.0767
Atmos	AMS	$158.04M	IOOF	0.0647
Anova Metals	AWV	$9.0M	Defender Equities	0.0701
NTM Gold	NTM	$16.1M	DGO Gold	0.1214
DE Mem	DEM	$8.1M	Andreas Hendrik De Wit	0.0567
Pensana Metals	PM8	$23.0M	Fidelity	0.0503

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Exits

The strangest ‘Exiter’ was digital agency Trimantium Growthops (ASX: TGO) which on Monday sold a $5.5m stake in…itself. But the previous Friday, the company announced a share buyback program to begin at the end of the month.

The ‘bought back’ shares represent capital set aside for potential acquisitions which have not yet materialised. But this did not stop the sale and subsequent disclosure to the ASX. Despite the name Titantium International and different office to the GrowthOps firm, it is the same one it gave to the ASX when it listed in 2017.

Chemical technology company Calix (ASX: CLX) farewelled Australian investment house Washington H Soul as a substantial holder – it sold 3 million shares for $2.2 million.

Despite IPH’s persistance, it seems QANTM IP (ASX: QIP) will be the ones to acquire Xenith IP (ASX: XIP). Yet there will be more background noise to come before the vote on the takeover and small cap investor Renaissance clearly doesn’t want to wait. Renaissance sold its 5.42% stake in QANTM – selling 1.8m shares after selling 1.2m earlier in the month.

Just five days after National Tyre and Wheel (ASX: NTD) welcomed Perpetual as a substantial shareholder with just over 5%, it lost the mantle with a sale of $700,000 shares – although it still owns 3.5%. It’s unclear why it would come and go so quickly.

The only news that came from the Brisbane based company was Forager becoming a substantial holder, as we reported two weeks ago. Yet it would seem odd that just one holder joining would be enough to leave.

Company	Code	Market Cap	Holder	Stake
QANTM IP	QIP	$196.9M	Renaissance Smaller Companies	0.0542
Calix	CXL	$78.4M	Washington H Soul Pattinson	0.0515
EML Payments	EML	$457.0M	Tribeca Investment Partners	0.05
National Tyre & Wheel Ltd	NTD	$51.3M	Perpetual	0.05
MCS Services	MSG	$2.8M	Peter Johns	0.093
Ovato	OVN	$47.5M	Lazard	0.0532
Tritanium Growthops	TGO	$56.0M	Tritanium International	0.0571
Infomedia	IFM	$553.0M	Pendal Group	0.0501

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Increasing

Considering Australia’s property downturn, Accordian Investments’ topping up of its 7.6 per cent stake in VillaWorld (ASX: VLW) to 9.4 per cent is eyebrow raising. Perhaps it thinks property developers will still gain or its perhaps anticipates it will deliver another hefty dividend, like last years’ $1.67 per share.

One sector that was facing a downturn but now faces upside is mortgage broking. Spheria Asset Management has increased its stake in Mortgage Choice (ASX: MOC) from 12.75% to 15.54%.

Antisense Therapeutics (ASX: ANP) completed a $1.6m placement. National Nominees and Platinum Investment both participated as their stakes went from 18.1 per cent to 20 per cent and from 5.7 per cent to 8.6 per cent respectively.

Regal Funds sunk its teeth into more of Syrah Resources (ASX: SYR), increasing its stake from 7.4 per cent to 9.4 per cent. While it had been several months since it last updated the ASX, it had been on a buying spree recently, purchasing $4.8 million of Syrah shares last Wednesday (the 13th) alone.

Fidelity increased its 10 per cent stake in Medibio (ASX: MEB) to 16.3 per cent and Prudential increased its 16.6 per cent stake in White Energy (ASX: WEC) to 19.8 per cent.

Listed Company	Code	Market Cap	Purchasor	Past Stake	Present Stake
Argent Minerals	ARD	$6.6M	Marc Harding	0.0512	0.0686
Fleetwood Corp	FWD	$174.0M	IOOF Holdings	0.0715	0.0834
Gage Roads Brewing	GRB	$105.2M	IOOF Holdings	0.0538	0.0649
Isentia	ISD	$43.0M	Spheria Asset Mgmt	0.1025	0.1296
Kasbah Resources	KAS	$10.3M	Pala Investment	0.2434	0.3424
Northern Minerals	NTU	$100.4M	Liu Xiaohua	0.0654	0.0777
White Energy Company	WEC	$38.2M	Prudential	0.166	0.1983
Embelton	EMB	$26.0M	George Embelton	0.4348	0.4647
KGL Resources	KGL	$76.8M	Pegasus CP One	0.0627	0.0693
Mortgage Choice	MOC	$126.3M	Spheria Asset Mgmt	0.1275	0.1554
Swift Networks	SW1	$33.0M	Robert & Wendy Sofoulis	0.221	0.307
Japara Healthcare	JHC	$374.0M	Pendal Group	0.0744	0.0913
Logicamms	LCM	$18.2M	TIGA Trading	0.1636	0.1791
Maximus Resources	MXR	$2.3M	Michael Ruane	0.0538	0.0699
Syrah Resources	SYR	$371.1M	Regal Funds Mgmt	0.0739	0.0939
Antisense Therapeutics	ANP	$16.4M	National Nominees	0.1812	0.1996
Antisense Therapeutics	ANP	$16.4M	Platinum Investment Mgmt	0.0568	0.0857
CML Group	CGR	$101.6M	First Samuel	0.1701	0.1813
Frontier Digital Ventures	FDV	$137.3M	Smallco Investment Manager	0.0749	0.0896
Megaport	MP1	$488.0M	Capital Group Companies	0.0851	0.106
Thorn Group	TGA	$71.7M	Somers Ltd	0.0687	0.081
VillaWorld	VLW	$272.9M	Accordian Investments	0.0761	0.0941
Dateline Resources	DTR	$15.2M	Mark Johnson	0.1806	0.2097
Aeon Metals	AML	$150.0M	OCP Asia (HK)	0.3277	0.4163
Chant West Holdings	CWL	$7.2M	Carnethy Evergreen	0.1868	0.1975
Medibio	MEB	$4.2M	Fidelity	0.0999	0.1627
Mareterram	MTM	$37.5M	Sea Harvest International	0.5628	0.6349
Listed Company	Code	Market Cap	Purchasor	Past Stake	Present Stake

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Decreasing

IOOF decreased its holdings in EML Payments (ASX: EML) and Oliver’s Real Foods (ASX: OLI). To say the latter was a poor investment would be an understatement – it cost $680,000 but returned only $260,000.

GetSwift (ASX: GSW) has been plagued by problems such as misconduct allegations made by ASIC and a declining share price for several months. Fidelity had a 7.32% stake in the company but now it stands at 6.19%.

Tritanium Growth (ASX: TGO) saw three fund managers (Pattani, Forci and Asia Selagnor) see their stakes decline due to a placement in which they remained idle. Managing director Phillip Kingston did participate, buying 900,000 shares, but he lost 20% of his stake, which fell from 22.48% to 18.52%.

AustralianSuper cut its stake in Digital AV firm Audinate Group (ASX: AD8) from 8.4 per cent to 7.2 per cent. Small cap investor Celeste Fund Management reduced its stake in marketing communications company Salmat (ASX: SLM) from 6.5 per cent to 5.3 per cent.

Listed Company	Code	Market Cap	Seller	Past Stake	Present Stake
Aeris Environmental	AEI	$29.6M	Maurie Stang	0.128	0.1128
BlackEarth Minerals	BEM	$4.6M	Lithium Australia	0.181	0.1631
CommsChoice	CCG	$12.0M	Grant Ellison	0.2009	0.1832
Cougar Metals	CGM	$1.1M	Randal Swick and Savvy Capital Management	0.4238	0.4237
Duxton Broadacre Farms	D2O	$171.5M	Global Agricultural Land & Opportunities Fund	0.2737	0.2634
GetSwift	GSW	$34.9M	Fidelity	0.0732	0.0619
Kasbah Resources	KAS	$10.3M	Lion Selection	0.1317	0.103
White Energy Company	WEC	$38.2M	Ilwella	0.1589	0.1466
White Energy Company	WEC	$38.2M	Gaffwick	0.1675	0.1545
Aguia Resources	AGR	$13.8M	Sulliden Mining Capital	0.1213	0.0648
Quickstep	QHL	$48.5M	Brickworks	0.1581	0.1298
Embelton	EMB	$26.0M	Elizabeth Montgomery	0.2169	0.187
Megaport	MP1	$476.1M	Bevan Slattery	0.23	0.1803
Austral Gold	AGD	$35.8M	Allan Gray	0.1745	0.1614
EML Payments	EML	$457.0M	IOOF Holdings	0.081	0.065
Oliver's Real Foods	OLI	$8.0M	IOOF Holdings	0.15	0.1225
New Age Exploration	NAE	$5.3M	Resource Capital Fund	0.2062	0.1651
Sunbridge Group	SBR	$2.0M	Jiayin Xu	0.5495	0.3197
Salmat Ltd	SLM	$109.8M	Celeste Funds Mgmt	0.0653	0.0533
Crusader Resources	CAS	Suspended	Copulos Group	0.2086	0.1803
Cervantes	CVS	$2.0M	Nuzeno Holdings	0.1005	0.067
Audinate Group	AD8	$343.8M	AustralianSuper	0.0837	0.072
Ava Risk Group	AVA	$29.5M	Pandon Holdings	0.1996	0.153
CrowdMedia	CM8	$3.0M	Collins St Asset Mgmt	0.0854	0.0665
Leigh Creek Energy	LCK	$124.4M	China New Energy Group	0.3011	0.2739
Peet Ltd	PPC	$469.0M	Ellerston Capital	0.0712	0.0529
Tritanium Growthops	TGO	$56.0M	Phillip Kingston	0.2248	0.1852
Tritanium Growthops	TGO	$56.0M	Pattani Private Capital	0.1594	0.1267
Tritanium Growthops	TGO	$56.0M	Forci Alternative Strategies	0.1538	0.1223
Tritanium Growthops	TGO	$56.0M	Asia Selagnor Investments	0.1969	0.1573

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