Pennsylvania investment company Safeguard Scientifics Inc. has sold 16 million shares of Aliso Viejo-based Clarient Inc. as part of its ongoing exit from the medical diagnostic company.
The stake represents about 20% of Clarient’s outstanding shares.
“Undisclosed institutional investors” bought the shares, according to Safeguard.
Usually a big share sale drags down a company’s stock. But Safeguard’s sale had the opposite effect, pushing up Clarient’s shares 15% Thursday on a market value of $316 million.
The move is part of an ongoing shift in ownership at Clarient that’s led to a pay down of debt and a reversal of losses.
Earlier this year, Westport, Conn.-based Oak Investment Partners said it is investing up to $50 million in Clarient in a two-part stock purchase.
So far, Clarient has used part of the proceeds to pay off about $24 million in debt, which the company earlier warned it might not be able to pay off on its own.
Paying off debt should allow Clarient to post a profit this year, according to the company.
Under the Oak Investment Partners deal, Safeguard saw its Clarient stake go from 60% to 47%. It expects to exit the company entirely by selling the 33 million shares it has left after the most recent stock sale.
Clarient provides cancer tests for pathologists, oncologists and drug makers. Its second-quarter sales were up 40% from a year earlier to $23.7 million.
The company posted a net profit of $29,000 before a dividend payment to Oak Investment Partners.
