The Quarto Group Inc

[Bouleversee]

Yesterday I received an RNS saying the following:

"The Quarto Group Inc

(the 'Company')

Director/PDMR Shareholding

In accordance with EU Market Abuse Regulation, Quarto (LSE: QRT) announces that 1010 Printing Limited, a company incorporated in Hong Kong under registration number 1419686, and a company closely associated with Chuk Kin Lau, Group Chief Executive Officer of the Company acquired 400,000 shares of common stock of US$0.10 each ("Shares") as detailed below.

Following this transaction, 1010 Printing Limited holds 13,315,083 Shares representing 32.56% of the Company's issued share capital. Chuk Kin Lau holds 3,359,486 Shares representing 8.22% of the Company's issued share capital. The aggregate holding for the two associated parties is 16,674,569 Shares which represents 40.78% of the Company's issued share capital."

It went on to show that the price was 100p per share. So today I thought I'd have a look to see if the s.p. had gone up and was surprised to see that it had closed at 54.50 yesterday and was now 56.50 and the graph showed no sign of any transaction at 100p. Can anyone explain, please? Also I thought that at that level of holding, one had to make an offer for the company but I haven't seen any press comment about this. I had rather hoped I might be recovering some of my loss on this holding. Do any other Fools hold?

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/new ... g/14679267

[G37y]

I cannot help Bouleversee I sold mine some time ago probably for much less than the current price.

[XFool]

(f)

place of the transaction

Outside a trading venue

[Bouleversee]

(f)

place of the transaction

Outside a trading venue

Yes, I noticed that. So are you saying that such private transactions are subject to RNS but don't count as regards charts or ownership which would trigger a bid requirement?

[Dod101]

I would think the fact that Quarto is domiciled in the US may give you the answer. I have no idea what the US requirements are for this situation but it is only quoted on the LSE presumably as a secondary listing and not incorporated here.

I cannot see that the place of the trade is relevant. I may be totally wrong of course.

Dod

[monabri]

The "top up" was about 1% of the total shares (400,000 in 40.929 million) - would this cause a spike?

By purchasing "outside of a trading venue" is this one way of acquiring shares at a best possible price but a trade(s) requiring delicate intervention by a specialised broker in order to gather together the required number of shares without 'spooking' the market unduly?

Would buying 400k of shares (~1%) on the regulated markets drive up the s.p. as traders got wind that there was a buyer? I guess that the volume would have to be compared to normal day to day volume in this share.

Was the broker tasked with acquiring 400k shares at a price of up to £1 ? (although the actual price average might be much lower with no need to disclose actual prices paid). Maybe the £1 figure is a bit of a red herring?

Hence the relevance of "the place of trade" but maybe the "price of trade" is not so relevant as the resultant percentage holding.

(disclosure - all my own conjecture! )

[Bouleversee]

But why would he pay so much more than the price before or since his deal? He is the CEO of Quarto and it was a deal done outside a trading venue.

The following seems to suggest it is only listed on the LSE:

(Redirected from Quarto Group) The Quarto Group is a global illustrated book publishing group founded in 1976. It is domiciled in the United States and listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Country of origin: United Kingdom
Founded: 1976 (as The Quarto Group)
Founders: Bob Morley, Michael Jackson, Laurence Orbach
Headquarters location: Islington, London
The Quarto Group - Wikipedia

It sounds a bit like a concert party. Don't the takeover rules apply in that case? I should have thought they did.

[XFool]

The following may, or may not, be relevent:

28 January 2020
Statement re Media Speculation

https://investors.quarto.com/InvestorNews/upload/pdf/investor_news/QI2/20200810_145051_0232_2020-01-28.pdf

[Bouleversee]

I'd read that too but I can't say it helped.

Today I received another RNS saying that Chuk Kin Lau was no longer CEO but remained an executive director.

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/new ... s/14690268

That doesn't make things clearer either.

However, I've just seen that the s.p. is up 4.42% today. The plot thickens!