Dunelm's biggest shareholder sells 4.9% stake in placing

Barclays said on Tuesday that Dunelm’s biggest shareholder, Will Adderley, and his private investment firm WA Capital, have sold a 4.9% stake in the homeware retailer in a placing to institutional investors.

WA Capital, which is controlled by Adderley and his wife, sold 10m shares at 1,140p each, which is a 7.7% discount to the closing share price on Monday.

Barclays acted as sole global co-ordinator and joint bookrunner on the placing, while Goldman Sachs International and UBS London Branch acted as joint bookrunners.

After the placing, Will Adderley and persons closely associated with him hold an interest of 37.6%.

"Sir Will Adderley remains fully committed to Dunelm in his role as deputy chairman as well as remaining a very substantial shareholder in the company," Barclays said.#

At 1048 BST, the shares were down 6% at 1,161p.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said the stake disposal by Bill Adderley doesn’t really make him and his relatives less important as shareholders.

"The reason the stock fell was simply placing such a large number of shares below last night’s closing price. It’s normal to see a small discount to shift a large block of stock," he said.