Block trades keep coming thick and fast as the ASX approaches record highs, and the latest is Odyssey Investment Partner’s 9 per cent stake in $3.5bn listed insurance broker AUB.
Odyssey inherited the holding in 2022 when AUB purchased its insurance brokerage business Tyers and paid for the deal partly in scrip.
A two-year escrow on the holding owned by the New York-based investment firm expires next month.
A deal was announced in May 2022 in which AUB would pay $880m for the London-based wholesale broker. The stake was worth $176m at the time and came with an equity raising at $19.50 per share to fund the acquisition.
Based on the market value now, with its share price at $29.96, the stake would be worth around $270m, making a selldown lucrative for the stakeholder.
Many have been waiting a long time to exit major holdings through a block trade, with conditions not quite right.
But the market’s anticipation of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve this week has created momentum, with some thinking that the economic downturn in the US brought on by high inflation may be over.
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