Investec MD Bernard Kantor sold about R91m worth of shares in two JSE-listed companies this month, raising questions whether he was rebalancing his portfolio in preparation for retirement as an executive director.
The 64-year-old Mr Kantor sold 700,000 Investec Limited shares worth R67.5m and stock worth R24.3m at Phumelela Gaming and Leisure this month.
Investec has “Limited” and “plc” shares trading on the JSE, which are theoretically identical. Following the sale of the Investec shares, Mr Kantor will still own about 3.6-million Investec Limited shares.
Investec Limited closed at R98.15 on Tuesday, while plc closed at R98.27.
One Johannesburg-based analyst said it was difficult to tell what Mr Kantor’s intentions were. He said it could be that he was diversifying his risk or even preparing for a day when he would step down.
Mr Kantor last year told Financial Mail that he did not plan to retire soon. Before the sale of the 700,000 Investec Limited shares last week, Mr Kantor had been a buyer. In July 2013 he bought 100,000 shares at an average price of about R63.88.
In September and November 2012 Mr Kantor bought about 400,000 shares for a total of about R20m.
Mr Kantor also bought shares worth about R2.7m at Phumelela between January and July last year.
(source: BD Live)