Shares in broker Daniel Stewart (LON:DAN) skyrocketed 650% today as the founder of Quindell, Rob Terry, bought a 7.4% stake in the firm.
Speaking to Proactive Investors, Terry confirmed he had purchased 31mln shares in the firm today - priced between 0.15p and 0.5p - taking his holding to 52mln shares.
Terry, who was also Quindell’s executive chairman, quit the company in November and offloaded almost all of his holding of the business in December.
His selling sent Quindell (LON:QPP) shares plummeting and on one particular day trading was halted on eight occasions to allow large numbers of deals to complete.
Prior to news of Terry’s purchases Daniel Stewart - which has provided Quindell with brokerage services - saw its share price surge in afternoon deals, but the firm said it knew of no reason for the movement.
Traders had already bid the shares up by 300% to 0.8p by midday. By around 2.00pm 79mln shares in the stockbroker had changed hands, dwarfing an average daily volume of 3.2mln.
Shares in Daniel Stewart only began trading again on AIM earlier this month after being suspended in October because it missed a regulatory deadline for filing its accounts.
The business got into difficulties last year after it identified a shortfall in regulatory capital. It gave up its nominated adviser business in an attempt to cut costs and narrow its focus.
In January, it secured £1.5mln in new funding through two cash subscriptions and via a loan note agreement.
Shares were 322% higher at the time of writing at 0.84p.