top 20

I'm surprised that there's been so little reaction/analysis to the fact that 5.3million shares changed hands in an o/seas cross trade yesterday morning. As someone pointed out, that's over 2% of the company holding. According to the most recent top 20, the only holders capable of selling such a large quantity of shares are:

- Kalahari
- RIO
- Citycorp (Itochu)
- HSBC (Nominee holders)
- JP Morgan (Nominee holders); and
- National (Nominee holders)

Comparing the most recent top 20 holdings with the release that preceeded it on 27 July 2010 (and assuming they're accurate and trustworthy), the movement of shares amongst these holders is as follows:

- Kalahari have picked up only a small number of shares
- RIO retains the same number
- Itochu have sold almost 300,000 shares (but still retain just over 32 million)
- HSBC have picked up almost 400,000 shares
- JP Morgan have picked up over a million shares
- National have sold off almost 900,000 shares.

Although any one of these holders may have sold off the 5.3million, IMO its unlikely that either HSBC or JP Morgan were the sellers in light of their recent trend of buying. I'd like to think that none of Kalahari, RIO or Itochu sold either. That leaves only National, who already sold off a large parcel in the period between the two top 20 releases.

National held just over 6.5 million shares as of 9 September 2010. It's possible that they may be the seller of the 5.3million shares and then proceeded to sell close to the rest of their holding on market yesterday, noting that a further million or so shares were traded yesterday. It could be...but it's all just speculation.

And as interesting as it may be to know who the seller is, it's even more interesting to find out who the buyer is. Given the movement of APAC recently with regards to Kalahari, it's possible that the Chinese are finally taking a seat at the EXT table, knife and fork ready in hand. However, whoever bought the shares may have done so through another nominee also.

Either way, on Monday morning I intend to email Extract seeking a new top 20 listing be released in light of the significant shift in shares. Can I suggest that all EXT holders on this thread do the same whether it be via email or a personal call? The more information us smaller fish have, the better off we'll all be.