The London Stock Exchange Group plunged into the red after a group of investors sold around £2.7 billion worth of shares.
US private equity giant Blackstone and media group Thomson Reuters have sold 33 million shares in the exchange operator at 8,050 pence each, according to a filing. This represented a discount of approximately 5% to LSEG’s previous closing price.
Shares fell 2.7 percent, or 228p, to 8244p. The pair sold Refinitiv, the data and analytics giant, to LSEG in 2021 for around £20bn.
As part of the deal, Blackstone and Thomson Reuters raised approximately 204.4 million LSEG shares, but were not allowed to sell the shares for two years.
Last December, a waiver was granted to allow Microsoft to buy a 4 percent stake from the consortium as part of a strategic partnership it signed with LSEG.
Sell-off: US private equity giant Blackstone and media group Thomson Reuters have sold 33 million shares in the London Stock Exchange Group at 8050p each
Blackstone and Thomson Reuters sold around £2bn worth of LSEG shares in March.
The London-listed company, which owns the FTSE Russell index provider, plans to buy back up to £750 million worth of shares from the pair by April next year.
Russ Mold, director of investment at AJ Bell, said, “Having taken this short-term pain, the overhang on the stock has now almost completely been removed.”
The FTSE 100 fell 0.4 percent, or 27.85 points, to 7723.23 and the FTSE 250 fell 0.3 percent, or 57.27 points, to 19215.45.
Melrose rose the highest of the blue chips on the back of encouraging prospects for its aerospace business over the next two years.
After the restructuring programs, the group hopes to buy back shares each year from 2024 worth between 5 percent and 10 percent of its market value, in addition to paying a “progressive” annual dividend.
Shares gained 4.4 percent, or 20.6p, to 488p. There was also good news for Auction Technology Group.
The FTSE 250 business, which operates as a marketplace connecting bidders with auction houses to buy items such as antiques, sofas and paintings, saw its turnover rise 17 percent to £67.3 million in the six months to the end of March.
It also said its art and antiques markets had performed well at the start of the second half of its fiscal year. Shares rose 7.9 percent, or 53 pence, to 723 pence.
Experian, the credit rating group, saw its turnover rise 7 percent to £5.3 billion in the year to the end of March.
But it expects group sales to grow slightly less over the next 12 months, with an increase of between 4 and 6 percent. Shares fell 0.2 percent, or 5 pence, to 2,735 pence.
Anglo American’s diamond business was on track to sell less due to continued economic uncertainty and a slow recovery in Chinese consumer demand.
De Beers, which mines the gems in Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa, said it is likely to report £385 million in sales between April 12 and May 16.
Although the industry is in a traditionally quiet period, such a turnover would be lower than the £435 million it earned in the previous cycle between March 27 and April 11.
At Coats, the industrial yarn manufacturer took a beating from customers choosing to reduce inventory as demand declined and inventory levels rose.
Sales fell by a fifth in the first four months of the year, due to a slump in the apparel and footwear divisions. Shares fell 6.4 percent, or 4.7 pence, to 68.3 pence.
TP ICAP, the world’s largest inter-dealer broker, warned that the benefit from recent US dollar strength was cooling.
The stockbroker also said it expects interest rates to remain high throughout the year.
The outlook came after sales rose 2 percent to £606 million in the three months to the end of March. Shares fell 3.7 percent, or 6.2 pence, to 162.8 pence.
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