Coronation dumped Spar at R40 after buying above R90

Coronation Fund Managers divested the majority of its stake in The Spar Group over the past six months, reducing its position to a mere 0.17% on September 17th. Prior to this, the fund had increased its holding from 9.97% to 10.4% by December 19th. This shift in stance occurred as Spar's share price fell from being firmly above R100 to trading between R92 and R96.

Coronation's stake increase was likely due to perceived temporary weakness within the company. Despite this, the fund's entire position was not necessarily entered at these levels, as Spar's share price has declined steadily since. Trading volumes indicate that Coronation sold a significant portion of its stake, with daily volumes exceeding one million shares in recent weeks, with a peak of 9.9 million shares traded on September 9th.

Coronation initially trimmed its stake to 9.53% on August 27th, then further reduced it to 0.17% three weeks later. The JSE requires shareholders to report once a five-percentage point threshold is reached, which explains the seemingly confusing announcement. In reality, the fund had been selling shares between August 27th and early September, crossing the 5% mark only when the final tranches were disposed.

The lowest closing price during this period was R37.88, suggesting that Coronation exited its position at or below R40 per share. Between April and June, Coronation's flagship Top 20 fund sold nearly 1.47 million Spar shares, reducing its holding to 14.28 million shares, accounting for approximately 7% of its total assets. By June 2025, this holding equated to about 1.84%, making Spar the second smallest holding after Woolworths.

The top 10 holdings, comprising roughly two-thirds of the fund, included Standard Bank Group, Naspers, Aspen Pharmacare, AB InBev, and Glencore.