Our attention has just been directed to a huge volume of trade in Sterling Bank shares today. As at noon about 105,061,284 units had crossed hands with about 94.5million sold at about N2.41. It’s unclear who the buyers are but if recent news is anything to go by it could be a mop up of shares by a strategic investor. Back in November, Sterling Bank had announced plans to sell 7.4billion units of shares to Silver Lake Investments. Silver Lake had agreed to purchase the shares at N2.65 or any other price as “the directors may determine in the interest of the company and subject to other terms and conditions and at such times as the directors may deem fit”. So could this be the beginning of a mop up of Sterling Bank shares by Silver Lake or is this just another related or perhaps unrelated trade?
Sterling bank shares is up 5.7% this year and currently trades at N2.41