One of Ardmore Shipping's largest shareholders has significantly reduced its stake in the Irish product tanker owner.
New York-based investment manager Blackrock sold nearly 1.7m shares, according to regulatory filings made on Monday, whittling down its position from 2.2m shares to 495,717.
According to Ardmore's annual report, Blackrock was the company's second-largest shareholder, with 6.6% of all shares and behind Aristotle Capital Boston's 3.6m shares.
The sell-off, which comes shortly after Ardmore's removal from the Russell 2000 small-cap stock index, sees Blackrock drop out of the shipowner's top shareholder list altogether.
Product tanker rates
The disclosure also comes as product tanker rates remain depressed due to Covid-19 oil demand destruction.
Many expect the tanker market to heat up at some point in the second half of the year as vaccination against the pandemic becomes widespread and demand for travel returns.
However, it is unclear when that might happen. Last week, Clarksons continued to assess many routes below break-even levels. The biggest jumps saw the UK/Continent to US Atlantic coast jump 19% to $3,271 per day, while the Middle East Gulf to Japan route rose 11% to $2,633 per day.
With Blackrock selling down its position, Private Management Group rises to second position in the shipowner's top shareholder list, behind Aristotle, with 2.1m shares, or 6.35%.
Dimensional Fund Advisors is in third place, with 2m shares or 6.2% of the company.
Ardmore opened the day down 0.07 to $3.91.
In 2021, its shares traded as high as $5.30 on 12 March and as low as $3.20 in late January.
