Tufton Group shareholders continue to up their stake in London-listed shipping fund Tufton Oceanic Assets.
A filing to the London stock exchange shows that unnamed principals of its investment manager, Tufton Investment Management (TIM), acquired 593,136 ordinary shares on 22 June.
These Tufton shareholders now have 6.97m shares, more than 2% of the company.
In addition, Tufton staff, Tufton directors and former Tufton shareholders bought a further 509,052 shares on the same date.
The two deals are worth towards $1.2m in total, based on a high for the stock of $1.06 on 22 June.
In April, another principal bought 175,000 shares.
The inside ownership has risen from 5.98m shares at the end of 2022 and 5.37m shares at 30 June last year.
The move also follows a filing in October that showed TIM principals had acquired an additional 613,000 shares.
TIM is led by chief executive Andrew Hampson and chief investment officer Paulo Almeida.
The Tufton Oceanic stock has been sliding over the last year, having reached $1.40 in May 2022.
The biggest shareholders in the tanker, bulker, container ship and gas carrier company are UK pension funds.
Corporate reorganisation
In January 2021, a corporate reorganisation saw senior management boost their Tufton Oceanic stakes as part of a “carefully planned leadership strategy developed over the past few years”.
A new financial partner, an unnamed European family office, acquired shares from a number of Tufton’s long-standing shareholders.
The fund has been focusing on product tankers and bulkers in recent months, after selling out of crude tankers and container ships.
