Shareholder critical of DavidsTea co-founder unloads most of its shares

A shareholder critical of DavidsTea co-founder Herschel Segal says it has sold most of its holdings in the beverage company. Employees and guests of DavidsTea celebrate the company's IPO at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York on June 5, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Mark Lennihan

MONTREAL – A shareholder critical of DavidsTea Inc. co-founder Herschel Segal says it has sold most of its holdings in the tea company.

TDM Asset Management Pty Ltd. says it recently sold 579,902 shares, raising the total number of shares it has unloaded since June 15 to 2.7 million, roughly a 10.6 per cent stake in the company.

The Australian-based company says it has received an average price of US$3.43 per share for a total of US$9.38 million.

Prior to the sales, TDM owned a more than 12.2 per cent stake in DavidsTea. It still has 225,302 shares or a 0.87 per cent stake, according to a securities filing.

TDM was one of three large shareholders that failed in a fight against Segal’s slate of director nominees, questioned Segal’s turnaround plan and accused him of trying to acquire the company without paying a premium.

Shares of DavidsTea traded for nearly US$30 in 2015. The shares closed down five cents to US$2.35 in trading Tuesday on the Nasdaq.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version had the incorrect dollar value for total shares sold.