Media and mining equipment tycoon Kerry Stokes has increased his stake in West Australian Newspapers, buying 214,895 shares in the publisher last week.
Mr Stokes, whose Seven Group Holdings owns 23.79 per cent of WAN, paid just over $1.4 million for the shares on market at an average price of $6.54 on May 25. The purchases were the first WAN shares acquired by Mr Stokes under his own name, with the Seven Group holding almost 51.4 million shares in wholly owned subsidiary Seven (WAN) Pty Ltd.
Three days after Mr Stokes’ purchase, WAN reported that giant US funds manager Blackrock Investment Management had disposed of its remaining six per cent stake in the company at the end of March.
WAN shares were trading above $8 at the time of Blackrock’s disposal, compared to $6.64 on June 1.
