$26 million in Solidere shares change hands

Transaction classified as ‘cross trade’, not regular market activity

Over two million Solidere A and Solidere B shares changed hands yesterday on the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE), at around one million shares for each, in one of the largest single day trades valued at $26 million, at around $13 million for each A and B shares.

Toufic Karam, a trader at FFA Private Bank, said the transactions were unremarkable in that they constituted what he termed ‘cross trade’, whereby shares are transferred between two parties who agree on a price.

“There are several ways this could happen, a shareholder dies and his shares are transferred to his heirs, or a shareholder uses his shares as collateral for a loan which would require the transfer of the ownership of the shares to the bank,” said Karam.

He said for the ownership of the shares to be transferred legally to the new owner they have to go through the market and are therefore registered as a trade. Although it is a two way transaction, shares must be sold within the ‘bid and offer’ range for the day.

Reported by Hani Bathiche