Macquarie launches Link Administration block trade at $7.42 a share
Macquarie's equities desk was seeking bids for about 50 million Link Administration shares from $7.42 a share on Friday.
Macquarie Capital's equities desk kicked off the sale of $390 million worth of Link Administration shares on Friday, as revealed by Street Talk.
The broker was calling for bids for 52.5 million shares from $7.42 a piece, which was in line with Link's last closing price. Macquarie then priced the deal at $7.46 after strong demand from fund managers.
The block trade of previously escrowed shares comes after a spurt of pitching from brokers on Friday. Sources told Street Talk that equities desks including UBS, Macquarie and Deutsche Bank had been seeking to buy the parcel of shares and offload the stock to institutional investors.
Those shares were released from escrow at 4pm on Friday. Link administers wealth management services for superannuation funds and owns a share registry.
The escrowed shares are held by local private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners (21.7 million), Intermediate Capital Group (21.7 million) and Macquarie Group (9.1 million), and were worth about $390 million at the floor price.
Given Macquarie's stake in the company the firm was viewed as the frontrunner to win the trade. It's the first block of shares to be released from escrow since Link listed last October.
Link was the biggest among 2015's initial public offerings. The company floated at $6.37 a share and has traded as high as $7.99. Macquarie was allocating the stock to investors on Friday evening.