Woolworths sells $468m Endeavour stake

Woolworths moved to sell 2.6 per cent of its stake in Endeavour Group on Tuesday night. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake, Getty Images

Supermarket giant Woolworths on Tuesday night moved to offload a $486m stake in its pub and liquor spin-off, Endeavour Group, equating to a 5 per cent interest in the business.

Working on the deal was Jarden.

The 89.7 million shares were being offered at $5.22 each which was a 2.6 per cent discount to their last traded price on April 30.

The trade came hot on the heels of Sidara’s $1.4bn selldown out of Worley on Monday night in what was the biggest block trade of the year.

Woolworths was always expected to over time distance itself from the pub operator and BWS and Dan Murphy’s liquor store owner it spun off in 2021.

Its shares are down from about $6.50 a year ago and 15 per cent shareholder Bruce Mathieson has criticised its management and performance.

Woolworths sold a 5.5 per cent stake in 2022 at $6.46 a share, leaving Woolworths with a 9.1 per cent stake in the business.

At the time of the demerger of Endeavour in 2021, Woolworths owned 14.6 per cent of the business.

The ASX 200 has been steadily rising for the last five months to April, but in the past month, it saw its biggest pull back, losing as much as 5 per cent, on the back of interest rate jitters.