As expected, securities in toll road group, Transurban fell sharply yesterday after a big shareholder, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board solid its 13% stake.
The securities fell by more than 5% to end at $4.42, down 26c on the day.
They touched a low of $4.39 during trading.
The sale wasn’t due to last week’s rejection of an indicated offer from the Canadian fund, another Canadian investor and a local Sydney-based fund.
It is more a result of the rejection because the Ontario fund had changed its policy on its infrastructure fund holding direct equity stakes.
The fund will now hold stakes in unlisted assets or in assets directly.
But market reports said that had the $5.57 a security bid succeeded last week, the Ontario fund could have held the TCL assets in the infrastructure fund because they would have been unlisted.
Ontario Teachers sold its stake at an estimated $4.44 a security, 16c less than the company’s $542 million rights issue at $4.60 a security.
It was also $1.13 a share less than the takeover offer of $5.57 the three key shareholders – CP2, Ontario Teachers and Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board – put to the company’s board last week.
The two Canadian funds had bid $5.25 a security for Transurban last November, but were rejected then as well.
CP2 holds 14% of Transurban and Canadian Pension holds a similar-sized stake.
