Quindell share price dives as Fidelity cuts stake in half
Shares in Quindell have dived again after investment firm Fidelity revealed it has cut its stake in the business by half.
Fidelity, one of the of the world’s largest investment companies and Quindell’s biggest institutional investor, reduced its stake to just over 21.4m shares from 41.2m reducing its stake from 10 per cent to 4.9 per cent it said today.
The firm said its stake fell below the five per cent threshold that triggers a stock market update on Tuesday, just a day after Quindell was forced to clarify a share deal involving three of its directors.
Shares in Quindell have dived more than 10 per cent this afternoon to 73 pence per share at pixel time after initially opening higher. Yesterday shares dipped as low as 61 pence per share, but recovered to close at 82.38 pence per share.
In July Fidelity gave the embattled Quindell a vote of confidence by doubling its stake.
The insurance outsourcing company now appears to have lost that confidence after The company was forced on Monday to restate a deal originally made last week. It clarified three directors had transferred shares to US hedge fund Equities First Holdings (EFH) to fund the purchase of more shares.
Chairman Rob Terry, finance director Laurence Moorse and independent director Steve Scott cashed in stock worth £8.6m last week. They have spent just over £1m of that so far buying new shares.