// JD Sports’ largest shareholder sells holdings worth £177m
// The prompted JD Sports’ stock to slide 10.2% to 721.9p
// Pentland will now have a 55% stake in JD Sports, down from the 57.5% it had in 2005
JD Sports shares have nose dived after the retailer’s largest shareholder sold holdings worth £177 million.
JD Sports’ stock slid 10.2 per cent to 721.9p in early trading after majority owner Pentland Group confirmed the major shares sale.
Pentland, which also owns sportswear brands such as Speedo and Berghaus, said it sold 24 million shares in JD Sports at 740p each.
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The company will now have a 55 per cent stake in the FTSE 100 retailer, having first purchased a 57.5 per cent holding in the business in 2005.
“Pentland is committed to remaining a long-term majority shareholder in JD at the same time as growing our portfolio of sports, outdoor and fashion brands through organic investment and acquisitions,” Pentland chairman Stephen Rubin said.
“Today’s share sale enables us to further this strategy by realising a small portion of our shareholding in JD to fund future investment activity, as well as increasing the free float to meet the increasing interest expressed in JD by other shareholders.”
Pentland said the shares were offered to international institutional investors by way of an accelerated bookbuild.
JD Sports will not receive any proceeds from the placement and Goldman Sachs acted as sole bookrunner for Pentland during the process.
JD Sports entered the FTSE 100 earlier this year after a period of surging sales bucked the downbeat trend among rival retailers.
The retailer had eyed an expansion through the proposed acquisition of rival Footasylum for £90 million, but the move has been stalled by an ongoing investigation by CMA.
with PA Wires
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