 fell over six percent on Tuesday, after one of its biggest investors sold 10 percent of the company's shares.){kind=link}
Shares in challenger bank OneSavings (LON:OSB) fell over six percent on Tuesday, after one of its biggest investors sold 10 percent of the company’s shares.
The stake was sold by US private equity giant JC Flowers, who were instrumental in the challenger bank’s birth. OneSavings was created after the trade and assets of Kent Reliance Building Society were transferred into OneSavings in 2011.
JC Flowers had a 97 percent interest in the bank before it went public in 2014, and on Tuesday sold 24.3 million shares at 395p each. The sale returned £96 million to the fund, causing shares to plunge nearly 7 percent.
The fund’s stake has now fallen to 44 percent, with their shares expected to be admitted to the market on or around 29th March 2017. The shares will be allotted from time to time following the exercise of options pursuant to the Company’s Sharesave Scheme.
Several analysts looked on the bright side of the sale, with Liberum Capital issuing a buy rating on the stock with a target price of 495.00. Peel Hunt also reiterated their buy rating, with analyst Anthony Da Costa saying that the 395p sale price offered investors “good upside”.
Challenger banks such as OneSavings have taken the markets by storm over the last couple of years, capitalising on savers’ mistrust of the traditional high street banks in the wake of the financial crisis.
Shares in OneSavings are currently down 6.42 percent at 394.80 (1319GMT).