Berkeley Share Discussion Threads

[gsands] 09/6/2009 23:52

Laf,

Our paths have just crossed. This flashed up on my 'value' radar tonight.

[grigor] 09/6/2009 20:10

Should fall towards 715p

[lafiamma] 09/6/2009 13:41

From the FT:

Saad Group sells 16m Berkeley shares
By David Fickling

Published: June 9 2009 12:16 | Last updated: June 9 2009 12:16

Saudi investment company Saad Group has sold nearly half its stake in UK housebuilder Berkeley, sending the normally-resilient stock plunging more than 10 per cent in morning trading.

The Saudi group, owned by one of Saudi Arabia's most powerful businessmen Maan Al Sanea, has been facing financial squeeze after its owner's accounts were frozen by Riyad's financial authorities.

Berkeley shares fell 67p or more than 8 per cent in midday trading to 758p, valuing the group's share capital a just over a £1bn. A spokesman for Berkeley said that 16.1m shares had been placed at 701p.

Saad's total holding in the company was just under 38m shares, equivalent to 29 per cent of the total equity.

Reports also suggested that Credit Suisse had placed an additional 4.4m Berkeley shares at 715p without identifying who the shares were sold for, bringing the total of shares sold on Tuesday to over 20m if the reports are true.

Following Saad, the next biggest shareholders are Lloyds, with 9.5 per cent, Swiss private bank Mirabaud, with 4.8 per cent, and hedge fund Egerton Capital, with about 4.5 per cent.

Tony Pidgley, chief executive, holds 3.5 per cent of the equity, and other directors have a further 2.1 per cent.

Saad's investment in Berkeley is by far its biggest declared shareholding, worth about £311m at Monday's prices.

Saad also holds stakes worth around £44m in Petra Diamonds, an Aim-listed miner, and £30m in Eatonfield, an Aim-listed property developer, as well as a number of smaller holdings.

Mr al-Sanea also holds a £1.8bn or 2 per cent stake in HSBC, through his Cayman Islands-based investment vehicle Singularis.

Saad Group, which had total assets of $30.6bn at the end of 2008, faces debt repayments after Moody's withdrew its credit rating earlier this month.

Berkeley, a housebuilder based in London and the south-east, also has a number of joint ventures with Saad Group. A spokesman for the group said that there were no expected funding commitments connected to the joint ventures that would necessitate Berkeley Group putting up extra cash.

Berkeley is the only major UK housebuilder to hold net cash, and its share price had until recently significantly outperformed its indebted peers.

However, its market cap last week was overtaken by Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey as concerns grew around the Saad Group holding and investors showed greater appetite for the more highly-geared companies in the sector.

Saad Group was not immediately available for comment.

[grigor] 09/6/2009 12:46

Will be a good buying opportunity for the best housebuilder in the UK

[jonwig] 09/6/2009 12:23

From FT Alphaville:

According to traders the troubled Saudi conglomerate has offloaded a large chunk of its 28.8 per cent holding in upmarket housebuilder Berkeley Homes on Tuesday morning - 16m shares at 701p through Citigroup. (In fact the shares were actually placed last night, but the business reported this morning).

They reckon the rest of the Berkeley stake will hit the market soon, albeit via another broker.

Shares in Berkeley are currently down 77p at 749p, a fall of 9.3 per cent.

[jonwig] 09/6/2009 12:07

In mid-Feb they did an effortless placing of 6m shares @ 840p - precisely the share price at the time.
Saad were shafted, of course ... everyone saw them coming.

Some of the Saad shares will hit the market so long as there's around 50p profit to be made. So I'd certainly expect some downside from here.

[hamsterape] 09/6/2009 12:03

The placing has to be below the market so the placee
can drip feed them into the market at a profit, unless they
choose to be long-term holders.

I'm still suspicious of those massive director sells in April
so near to the close period prior to results.

Edit: I'd also imagine that a big stakeholder like Saad would have
been tipped the wink by the directors as to whether to sell now or
hold out until the results.

[extrader] 09/6/2009 11:53

Hi Ellsworth,

Why surprised ? You'd expect a discount for quantity ie a lower price than is available to the retail-level punter, esp if there is an element of distress.

I guess differences of viewpoint are what make a market. Good luck in any event.

[elssworth] 09/6/2009 11:45

Well surprised these are still above what they are selling their stakes for!!
...can't see these holding above £7 in the short term.

...i remain unconvinced and have an initial entry target close to £4.75-£5

Hope it helps

[wenlynn] 09/6/2009 11:21

A Berkeley Group (BKG.LN) spokesman confirmed that 16.1 million shares in the company have been placed at 701 pence.

[lafiamma] 09/6/2009 10:44

Credit Suisse has apparently placed 4.4m at 715p as well

[elssworth] 06/6/2009 08:47

Expecting these to get "Whacked" down big time!
Globally we're still in deep waters...and it looks clear now in a number of company's, the bigger players are now calling it a good time to exit...the Arabs at BARC are pulling out too etc.

The Prof has a Level 4 target of £4.75
Hope it helps

"The Times
June 6, 2009

Berkeley Group, the housebuilder, in which Saad has a 29 per cent stake, fell even further, down 60p, or 7 per cent, to 820p in high volume amid talk that Saad was selling shares. Neither side would comment."

[lafiamma] 05/6/2009 12:55

Gotta be worth a punt at 810...

laf :o)

[sebass] 05/6/2009 12:05

Thanks jonwig, just trying to workout if there was any other reason. It seems that with results coming out in a couple of weeks and the shares which usually rally before and after past results it might be an interesting short term opportunity

[jonwig] 05/6/2009 11:51

sebass - look no further than the link kindly provided by grigor in post #111.

The uncertainty there is enough, given the possibility of forced sales. Of course, this will be a buying opportunity at some point, but timing might be difficult.

I'm pleased I sold my shares here in April.

EDIT - yes, it's on FT Alphaville

[sebass] 05/6/2009 11:44

£300 after the placing. Anyone know why the drop?

[bones30] 05/6/2009 11:20

How much cash do this lot have again?

[grigor] 01/6/2009 22:27

Trouble at Saad Group?

[hamsterape] 30/5/2009 13:28

Any reason why three directors sold £6m worth of shares on the 27th April, then?

[melody9999] 11/5/2009 09:20

looks a good time to buy now - on the support line

[2phildove] 07/4/2009 19:34

EATONFIELD.co.uk
fantastic if still correct... as at 28/10/08
Significant shareholders

(A shareholder who holds 3% or more)

Shareholder Amount %
Rob Lloyd 11,000,000 47.7
SAAD Investments Ltd 6,880,000 29.8
UBS Wealth Management 957,500 4.2
Lloyds TSB 755,000 3.3
Sir Leslie Young and
Lady Margaret Young 400,000 1.7
Suki Kalirai 40,000 0.2

Shares In Issue

There are 23,064,775 ordinary shares in issue.

Percentage Not In Public Hands

79.4% Not in public hands*
= less than 5 million pulicly held and 2 million changed hands today!!
easy to get this to move!!!!

[cockneyrebel] 25/3/2009 11:46

That's your chance to stal these today I'd say.

CR

[cockneyrebel] 21/3/2009 12:27

Doesn't mean the market hasn't bottomed in what that says imo. Pidgley said we are within 5% of the bottom. The actual bottom might be 6 months off - the market moves in advance. We might actually be seeing the market started moving even further because never before have we seen so many people 'short selling' via spreadbetting and those guys actually have to buy to close their position and so the more they feel we are nearing the bottom the more they will close and increase the share price. Would builders have fallen this low without shorting?

When builders start breaking out you'll see massive short closing that will exacerbate the rise imo.

CR