Franklin Templeton, previously Clarksons’ second largest investor, has reduced its holding to below 5%, a regulatory filing said. The US investor emerged as a major Clarksons stakeholder in May 2013 with 1.09 million shares, a 5.75% holding worth £17m ($26m) at that time. According to Clarksons last annual report, it was behind only Mason Hill Advisors (6.66%) on the list of significant investors.
Heronbridge Investment Management and Blackrock boasted 5.2% and 4.83% slices respectively. It is not clear from the Franklin Templeton filing how much of its former holding has been sold.
Clarksons trading volumes soared on 20 August, the day of the Franklin Templeton transaction. The 1.34m shares traded compared with the 12,430 and 45,000 on the days that sandwiched the sale. Last week Clarksons posted a first half pre-tax profit of £15.8m ($26.22m), a rise of 46% year-on-year.