Trading Places: What does a travel agent founder want with $4.9m of stock in State Gas?
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In this week’s recap of substantial holders, Jamie Pherous bought a 5.3 per cent stake in State Gas for $4.9m, Lombard Odier bought more of Salt Lake Potash, and Regal sold out of Visioneering Technologies and increased its stake in Nickel Mines by $11m.
Substantial shareholders are defined as those holding 5 per cent or more of a company’s shares and these could be directors, individual investors or institutional investors.
Shareholders are required to announce to the exchange when their shareholding becomes substantial, when they have ceased to be substantial shareholders or any change in their holdings above 5 per cent.
Jamie Pherous is a Queensland business magnate who founded Corporate Travel in 1994 and is still managing director of the company.
On Monday he bought a 5.3 per cent stake in Queensland gas play State Gas (ASX:GAS) for $4.9m.
It is an exciting time in Queensland’s gas market. This company fracks for coal seam and conventional gas and Jamie’s money will help them fund the project’s next stage.
Interestingly, Tony Ballas, chairman of State Gas, is also chairman of Corporate Travel.
Billionaire investor Alex Waislitz’s Thorney Technologies became substantial holders in Visioneering Technologies (ASX:VTI), taking a 10.64 per cent stake. He paid just under $1m in a recent placement after previously spending $97,000 in February to initially buy in.
Remember Tolga Kumova? He’s a successful investor who profited from Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR). This week he has taken a gamble on Six Sigma Metals (ASX:SI6) taking a 5.34 per cent stake, paying $120,000.
Among the fund manager buys this week were Regal Funds Management spending $11m to increase their stake in Indonesian-focused base metals explorer Nickel Mines (ASX: NIC). They now hold 7.36 per cent.
Paradice Investment Management increased their holdings in Eneco Holdings (ASX:EHL) and Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL). IOOF did likewise with their stake in Otto Energy (ASX:OEL) spending $1.2m to take their stake to 11.63 per cent.
IOOF also bought into recently IPO’d Victory Offices (ASX:VIC), acquiring a 6.72 per cent stake for $5.5m. Perpetual likewise bought in although they only acquired a 5.5 per cent stake and spent $4.5m.
Vibumum Funds spent $8m to take its stake in Ardent Leisure Group (ASX:ALG) (the owner of Dreamworld) to 14.48 per cent. One of their executives, Gary Weiss has been on Ardent’s board for the last two years, joining in the aftermath of the Dreamworld disaster.
Company | Code | Market Cap | Holder | Stake | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
TerraCom | TER | $238.3M | Bonython Coal | 0.1695 | Increasing |
GI Dynamics | GID | $14.7M | Cystal Atiher Fund | 0.4878 | Increasing |
Skyfii | SKF | $50.6M | Jagafil | 0.0997 | Increasing |
Aspen Group | APZ | $98.7M | Brahman Capital Management | 0.173 | Increasing |
Venture Minerals | VMS | $12.4M | Ephinsture Group | 0.0723 | Increasing |
Deep Yellow | DYL | $77.2M | Paradice | 0.077 | Becoming |
BWX | BWX | $263.4M | Bennelong | 0.2218 | Increasing |
Eneco Holdings | EHL | $568.9M | Paradice | 0.0905 | Increasing |
Empired | EPD | $43.2M | Microequities Asset Management | 0.0831 | Increasing |
Qantm IP | QTM | $27.5M | Fidelity | 0.0536 | Becoming |
Volpara Health Technologies | VHT | $351.9M | Harbour Asset Management | 0.0647 | Increasing |
Visioneering Technologies | VTI | $20.0M | Thorney Technology | 0.1064 | Becoming |
Peel Mining | PEX | $74.0M | St Barbara | 0.161 | Increasing |
Boart Longyear | BLY | $94.7M | Centrebridge | 0.5384 | Increasing |
Latin Resources | LRS | $3.6M | Lind Asset Management | 0.0559 | Becoming |
Ora Banda Mining | OBM | Susp | GR Engineering Services | 0.0634 | Becoming |
iCar Asia | ICQ | $93.1M | PM Capital | 0.107 | Increasing |
Magnetic Resources | MAU | $78.8M | Dale Alcock | 0.0578 | Becoming |
1st Group | 1ST | $17.8M | John Plummer; Gold Tiger Investments | 0.2758 | Increasing |
Ardent Leisure Group | ALG | $513.3M | Vibumum Funds | 0.1448 | Increasing |
Nickel Mines | NIC | $564.4M | Regal Funds Management | 0.0736 | Increasing |
Urbanise.com | UBN | $20.5M | Australian Ethical Investment | 0.0504 | Becoming |
Venture Minerals | VMS | $12.4M | Delphi | 0.0625 | Becoming |
Strandline Resources | STA | $51.3M | Tembo Capital | 0.3369 | Increasing |
Ora Banda Mining | OBM | Susp | NPS Mining Alliance | 0.0805 | Becoming |
Victory Offices | VOL | $92.0M | IOOF | 0.0672 | Becoming |
Victory Offices | VOL | $92.0M | Perpetual | 0.055 | Becoming |
Reffind | RFN | $2.6M | Ryan Yarsley | 0.0514 | Becoming |
Otto Energy | OEL | $108.3M | IOOF | 0.1163 | Increasing |
Harris Technology | HT8 | $5.0M | First Growth Fund | 0.1622 | Becoming |
State Gas | GAS | $99.6M | Jamie Pherous | 0.053 | Becoming |
Six Sigma Metals | SI6 | $2.5M | Tolga Kumova | 0.0534 | Becoming |
K2 Energy | K2F | $2.1M | Balander Pty Ltd - Sam Gazel | 0.0598 | Becoming |
Salt Lake Potash | SO4 | $176.7M | Lombard Odier | 0.1501 | Increasing |
Winchester Energy | WEL | $11.2M | Larry Liu and Yang Xiangyang | 0.1599 | Increasing |
Intermin Resources | IRC | $42.8M | Ashok Parekh | 0.0537 | Becoming |
Two weeks after Ron Brierley announced he was retiring, he sold $9m of his Mercantile (ASX:MVT) shares. While he still owns 24.73 per cent, this was a significant sell down from his previous 54.3 per cent stake. But rather than being paid in cash, he was paid in Sandon Capital shares.
QVG sold down their stake in traffic information supplier GTN (ASX:GTN) by $3.8m, but they still hold 5.18 per cent.
While Thorney bought into Visioneering Technologies (ASX:VTI), Regal Funds Management cut their stake to 9.24 per cent, selling $151,000 in shares throughout May — although a dilution due to Thorney’s buy also impacted.
Although People Infrastructure (ASX: PPE) completed a $20m raise, IOOF used it as a chance to sell $3.1m, shrinking their stake to 10.46 per cent.
Also selling were AustralianSuper who decreased their stake in Audinate Group (ASX:AD8) to 5.02 per cent after selling $4.3m in six weeks. The Mizikovsky Group (led by prominent businessman Lev Mizikovsky) sold $1.8m in Collection House (ASX: CLH) shares, thus reducing their stake to 8.42 per cent.
Company | Code | Market Cap | Holder | Current Stake | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
GTN | GTN | $224.0M | QVG | 0.0518 | Decreasing |
Impedimed | IPD | $47.5M | Kinetic Investment Partners | 0 | Ceasing |
UUV Aquabotix | UUV | $2.3M | Longhill Capital | 0.2748 | Decreasing |
Mitchell Services | MSV | $107.8M | Washington H Soul Pattison | 0.0978 | Decreasing |
Visioneering Technologies | VTI | $20.0M | Regal Funds Management | 0.0924 | Decreasing |
E2 Metals | E2M | $16.4M | Martin Dohohue | 0.0501 | Decreasing |
Venture Minerals | VMS | $12.4M | Molton Holdings | 0 | Ceasing |
Mercantile | MVT | $44.9M | Siblow - Ron Brierley | 0.2473 | Decreasing |
Collection House | CLH | $175.5M | Mizikovsky Group | 0.0842 | Decreasing |
Audinate Group | AD8 | $512.8M | AustralianSuper | 0.0502 | Decreasing |
People Infrastucture | PPE | $204.1M | IOOF | 0.1046 | Decreasing |
Evolve Education | EVO | $116.8M | Accident Compensation Corporation (NZ) | 0.0498 | Ceasing |