If you own shares of travel business Helloworld Ltd (ASX: HLO), you're likely wondering why your stock rose so sharply on Thursday afternoon. At one point, the stock had climbed to within one cent of its 52-week high, hitting 38 cents per share after having closed at 29.5 cents on Wednesday, equating to a 28.8% lift in price.
The sudden gain came as a result of an off-market transaction that occurred on 18 February, whereby major shareholder UBS Australia Holdings sold more than 30.86 million Helloworld Ltd shares, representing 7% of the company's shares on issue. This reduced UBS's shareholding to 10.9% from 17.9%.
However, the stock was sold to another existing shareholder Sintack for 39 cents each, representing a premium of 41% to the volume weighted average price (VWAP) for the five days on which Helloworld Ltd shares traded prior to that date. Sintack's shareholding is now worth 19.3%, up from 12.3%.
Source: Yahoo Finance
Unfortunately, the stock retreated substantially during the afternoon, although shareholders were still treated to an 11.86% increase for the day, the shares closing at 33 cents each. Fellow travel businesses Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) and Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) also jumped strongly for the day, finishing the session 3.6% and 1.5% higher respectively.
