Greg Baynton has offloaded a whopping $8.15m worth of stock in...

Greg Baynton has offloaded a whopping $8.15m worth of stock in his Brisbane battery tech firmA surging share price for a Brisbane battery firm has helped the founder, who has just offloaded $8.15 million worth of stock.
CASHED UP

Greg Baynton has offloaded a whopping $8.15 million worth of stock in his Brisbane battery tech firm Novonix.

With the company’s stock price shooting to new highs since June, Baynton sold five million shares over five days last week at an average price of $1.63 apiece.

As recently as March, it was trading at just under 16c.
Baynton, who also oversees State Gas, told City Beat on Monday he needed the money to settle the purchase of a grazing property and cover some related expenses.
He was reluctant to provide further details of the deal, but said it was part of some investing he’s done in the agricultural sector over the past 12 months to diversify his holdings.
“I’ve been trying to spend less time in the corporate world and get a bit more balance with my working life. I’ve had some pressure from my family and advisers to slow down,’’ he said.
At the same time, he’s extremely bullish on the prospects for Novonix, which announced a breakthrough in June on efforts to create an ultra-long-life battery for electric vehicles.

It’s the first time he’s got rid of stock in Novonix since launching the firm in 2012 and floating it in 2015. But he’s still got plenty of skin in the game with 25 million shares.
That, along with speculation the company was poised to announce a deal with Tesla, put a rocket under the share price, which soared 76 per cent in just one day.His fellow directors, including Tony Bellas, Philip St Baker and former Dow Chemical boss Andrew Liveris, have also done very well out of the surge.Although Novonix continues to post annual losses, it managed to raise $58m in May to continue its research and manufacturing around the world.“I’m very excited about the opportunity we have in front of us in the US and further afield,’’ Baynton said.