LONDON/WARSAW (Reuters) - Jan Kulczyk, Poland's richest man and until Thursday second-largest shareholder in oil explorer Ophir Energy (L:OPHR), has sold his 8 percent stake in the company at below the price of its 2011 flotation, spooked by the slump in oil prices.
Kulczyk Entities, an investment firm controlled by the entrepreneur, sold more than 56 million Ophir shares at 140 pence per share, raising 79.3 million pounds, bookrunner JP Morgan Securities (N:JPM) said, in a surprise move by the investor who had backed the small oil company from its early days in 2005.
The price values Kulczyk's shares nearly 40 percent below their level on Ophir's first day of public trading in 2011.
"The sale of the stake in Ophir is a result of the group's strategy which assumes focussing on the energy sector, as well as of a current analysis of the situation in oil and gas," Marta Wysocka, a spokeswoman at Kulczyk Investments, said.
The investor placed his bets on utilities last year when he combined his Polish energy assets to create the country's largest private utility.
Kulczyk Investments also invests in mineral resources, infrastructure, the chemical industry and real estate.
Kulczyk's share placing and the price discount weighed on Ophir's shares, which were down 12.7 percent at 141.3p by 1343 London time.
"Market reaction (has been) slightly negative given the large discount at which the entire position of a founding shareholder was sold," said analysts at First Energy.
Ophir, which specialises in offshore exploration in Africa, declined comment.