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The bad-boy-of-yesteryear, Chris Ellison, founder of Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), has rankled company investors today after it was revealed he sold $120M worth of shares in the company.
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While still holding over 10% of shares on issue, it’s obviously not being taken with a shrug more than a significant look of concern.
Shares in the company were down more than -6% heading into the second hour of trades.
While some of that might be contagion pain from lithium downside – PLS Group is down nearly -4% at the time of writing – it’s not controversial to suggest a founder selling off shares out of the blue causes panic.
Hell, just look at Droneshield. The stock still hasn’t recovered from Oleg’s exit at around $3.30/sh late last year, about a month before Christmas.
At the time, Oleg scrambled to justify the sale; telling one outlet that it was because of family safety (or something), and then later, made vague comments about property considerations. The lack of consensus won him absolutely no fans.
As for Ellison? He wants to establish a family office. Presumably he has a guy to navigate through Chalmers’ controversial budget released earlier this week.
“This disposal was undertaken for personal financial planning purposes, including the establishment of a family office, and was conducted in accordance with MinRes’ Securities Trading Policy,” a MinRes announcement read on Friday.
“Mr Ellison has been the major shareholder of MinRes for 33 years, including 20 years as a publicly listed company, and remains the company’s largest shareholder. He retains a significant shareholding of 20,834,661 shares, representing 10.54% of issued capital.”
Why exactly Ellison needs to establish a family office at this time, using shareholders’ money, remains the big unknown that’s likely driving the share price down. CEOs don’t offer us explanations, true. Shareholders don’t necessarily owe them loyalty, either.
It’s all about communication. At least Ellison’s doing better than Oleg on that front.
MIN last traded at $66.78/sh.
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