(Bloomberg) — Another large block trade in ViacomCBS Inc. has priced at $47 per share, according a person familiar with the matter, the latest in an extraordinary flurry of such deals that began before the weekend. The shares rose to premarket highs, trading nearly flat from Friday after falling as much as 3.4% earlier Monday.
About 45 million shares were offered Sunday on behalf of an undisclosed holder, people familiar with the matter previously told Bloomberg. The most recent block trade known to Bloomberg had offered shares at $46 to $47 each through Morgan Stanley, one of the people said on Sunday. The offering price represents a 2.6% discount to Friday’s closing price.
A Morgan Stanley representative declined to comment on Sunday.
The stock offering represents about 7.7% of the company’s total shares outstanding as of March 24, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The stake is worth roughly $2.2 billion based on Friday’s closing price.
The U.S. media giant was also the subject of at least one large block trade on Friday through Goldman Sachs, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg at the time.
The highly unusual Sunday offer may contribute to further volatility in ViacomCBS, which fell the most on-record Friday. The company’s shares were part of a $20 billion spree of block trades that also included stocks like Discovery Inc., Farfetch Ltd., iQiyi Inc. and GSX Techedu Inc., according to an email to Goldman clients seen by Bloomberg News.
The drop in ViacomCBS shares also came alongside a series of analyst downgrades that cited the stocks massive runup before this week. Shares had climbed 169% this year through March 22.
The bevy of stock offerings came after the family office of former Tiger Management trader Bill Hwang was forced by its banks to liquidate the positions after some positions moved against him.
Nomura Holdings Inc.’s warning of a “significant” potential loss from an unnamed U.S. client is related to the unwinding of trades by Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management, according to people familiar with the matter. The family office founded by Hwang was one of Nomura’s prime brokerage clients, one of the people said, without providing further details.
Read more: Goldman U-Turn on Hwang Put Bank at Nexus of Margin Call Mayhem
The multiple block trades in ViacomCBS come within a week of a separate, $2.65 billion stock sale conducted by the company.
(Updates with offering price and Monday’s premarket trading.)
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