CBA’s Count shareholding reduces to 25.75%

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor/Publisher, Financial Newswire

6 March 2024

The Commonwealth Bank has diluted its shareholding in Count Limited but still holds a strong 25.75% of the company.

At the same time, publicly-listed platform company and the former majority shareholder in Diverger Limited, HUB24, has picked up an 11.59% stake in Count.

The Commonwealth Bank had held a 38% stake in Count Limited ever since the sale of Count Financial to CountPlus in mid-2019 with the big banking group signalling at the time that it would likely sell-down its shareholding over time.

However, Monday’s announcement that it had reduced its 38.36% stake to 25.75% represented the first reduction in its exposure, albeit that it related to shares vesting  as part of a employee incentive plan.

The reduction in the Commonwealth Bank shareholding also coincides with the bank having acquitted virtually all of the indemnity obligations it provided to CountPlus at the time of the 2019 sale.

The HUB24 11.59% stake in Count Limited arises from its sale of Diverger Limited to Count and allied investment management arrangements.