BlackGold's largest shareholder halves stake as directors raise holdings

CATALIST-listed coal miner BlackGold Natural Resources' largest single shareholder, Sujono Hadi Sudarno, has sold 104 million shares in the company for S$17.472 million - some of which are being acquired by the firm's chief executive officer, Philip Rickard; and independent non-executive chairman, Intekhab Ahmad Khan.

Mr Sudarno, who sold the shares through wholly owned vehicle Twin Gold Ventures, now controls just 12.26 per cent of BlackGold, from 23.43 per cent previously.

The shares were sold at 16.8 Singapore cents apiece on Jan 26. That represents a 71 per cent premium to BlackGold's close of 9.8 Singapore cents that day. The stock was trading at 9.9 Singapore cents as at 9.38am on Thursday.

Of the 104 million shares sold by Twin Gold, 27 million were acquired by Mr Rickard, whose stake in the company now stands at 4.4 per cent from 1.5 per cent previously.

Mr Khan, through investment vehicle Kaalasona, bought 20 million of the shares sold by Twin Gold to raise his stake to 6.14 per cent from 3.99 per cent.