After several days of stocking up, director deals over the past week have seen a more even spread of buying and selling.
One of the most interesting deals involves embattled cruise operator Carnival (CCL), whose board member Randall Weisenburger boosted his stake tenfold as he bought 1.3m of its New York-listed shares at $8 each, for a total of around $10.4m.
It came as part of Carnival’s $575m share offer, with Weisenburger taking 1.7% of the shares offered.
$17BN OF ORDERS FOR $4BN BOND
Despite the company appearing in dire straits thanks to disappearing revenues as a result of an unprecedented shutdown in the global cruise industry, investors have lined up to give the company money in the past week.
The company received $17bn worth of orders from bond investors for its $4bn debt offer, according to the Financial Times, while it also had no problem raising the other $2.25bn it needed.
That sent its London-listed shares up by a third over the past five days, now trading at around 916p having opened on Friday at 602p.
However, it’s worth pointing out its $4bn bond offer is backed by $28bn worth of its cruise ships. While the value of Carnival’s fleet would plummet if the whole cruise industry collapsed, it’s likely bond investors would still be able to get their money back even if Carnival isn’t able to pay back its debt.
PRU BOSS WELLS SELLS
Seemingly one big seller of shares in the past week has been Prudential (PRU) chief executive Mike Wells, who offloaded £1.3m worth of shares at £10.20 apiece in order to meet tax liabilities.
The global insurer has been in the crosshairs recently as activist investor Dan Loeb took a near-5% stake in the company and urged the FTSE 100 constituent to separate its US and Asian operations.
The company has also been silent regarding its dividend, with a group of UK insurers heeding advice from the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority and scrapping their dividends. Prudential however is regulated in Hong Kong as that’s where the bulk of its business is based.
DIRECTOR UPS OIL & GAS STAKE DESPITE PLUNGING OIL PRICE
Another interesting transaction over the past involves Karen Simon, non-executive chair of FTSE 250 oil company Energean Oil and Gas (ENOG).
Despite the plunging oil price in recent weeks, Simon bought over 31,000 shares at 667p each for a total of £210,000.
The company’s share price has recovered to around 785p from its lows of 298p in mid-March as its gas assets offer it some protection from the collapsing oil price, while it has also managed to remove the troublesome Algerian assets from the portfolio it is acquiring from Edison.
For a full list of the week’s most significant director deals, click here.
