Diana Shipping has reduced its stake in Genco Shipping & Trading below 10%, continuing a rapid unwind of the position following the collapse of its takeover attempt last month.

A fresh SEC filing shows Diana sold another 275,000 Genco shares on September 1 and 2 for about $7.26m. The Athens-based owner offloaded 125,000 shares at an average price of $26.02 on September 1, followed by two blocks of 75,000 shares each at $26.64 and $26.73 the following day.

The transactions leave Diana with around 4.13m Genco shares, equivalent to roughly 9.5% of the company. The SEC filing specifically notes that Diana is no longer a 10% beneficial owner and serves as its exit filing under the relevant reporting rules. Crossing that threshold matters for disclosure purposes: US rules require investors holding more than 10% of a listed company to file transaction reports promptly, so dropping below the level reduces Diana's ongoing reporting obligations as it completes the exit.

This marks the fourth round of selling since Diana withdrew its Genco offer on August 14. As Splash reported last week, Diana sold 1.2m shares on August 21 and 24 for just over $32m, reducing its position from around 14.4% to 11.62%. It then unloaded another 648,256 shares on August 25, followed by 10,707 shares on August 27 and 28, before the latest 275,000-share sale.

Altogether, Diana has sold about 2.13m Genco shares since abandoning the takeover, raising roughly $56.8m based on the reported transaction prices. Its holding has fallen from around 6.26m shares to 4.13m in less than three weeks.

Analysts at SEB said the selling has become visible in Genco's relative share performance. Since Diana withdrew its offer on August 14, Genco has gained around 4%, compared with rises of between 8.5% and 9.7% for selected dry bulk peers Star Bulk, CMB.TECH and Himalaya Shipping. The bank said Diana's remaining 4.1m-share position could continue to weigh on Genco's near-term relative performance if the sell-down continues.

Diana ended its nine-month takeover campaign in August after the two sides failed to bridge a wide valuation gap. The Greek owner said Genco's counterproposal amounted to about $36.91 per share, while Genco disputed Diana's characterisation of the proposed terms. The failed bid and subsequent exit cap a rare public consolidation attempt in the fragmented dry bulk sector, where most owners remain closely held and cross-company mergers have historically been infrequent. For watchers of Greek shipping, the pace of Diana's disposals signals the stake was above all a deal vehicle rather than a long-term strategic holding, with future developments now tied to how Diana deploys the roughly $56.8m raised.

Source: Splash247