Acerinox Shares Drop After Nippon Steel Sells 7.9% Stake at Discount

By Pietro Lombardi

Shares in Spanish steelmaker Acerinox SA are in the red on Friday after a large shareholder sold part of its stake at a discount.

Nippon Steel Corp. has halved its holding in the company, selling a 7.9% stake for around 218.1 million euros ($259.7 million). This corresponds to EUR10.20 for each of the roughly 21.4 million shares it sold. The price of the placement is below Acerinox's closing price on Thursday, which was EUR10.82.

Acerinox shares fall 5.6% in European morning trade to EUR10.22, roughly in line with the price buyers paid for Nippon's stake.

"The news is negative for Acerinox," Renta 4 Banco analyst Cesar Sanchez-Grande said, adding that the sale of Nippon's remaining stake is likely after the lock-up period. The Japanese company still has a 7.9% stake in Acerinox.

The news comes at a bad time for the Spanish company, as it hit the stock in a period marked by significant improvement in the company's results, he said.

Write to Pietro Lombardi at pietro.lombardi@wsj.com; @pietrolombard10

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 18, 2021 04:54 ET (08:54 GMT)

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