Whispir (ASX:WSP) share price sinks 9.5% lower on major shareholder sell-down

The Whispir Ltd (ASX:WSP) share price is sinking lower after major shareholders sold off a large number of shares…

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The Whispir Ltd (ASX: WSP) share price is missing out on the tech rebound on Thursday.

In morning trade the cloud-based communication platform provider's shares are down 9.5% to $3.85.

As a comparison, the S&P ASX All Technology index is up 2.7%.

Why is the Whispir share price dropping lower?

The Whispir share price has come under pressure after it revealed that some large shareholders have sold down their stakes in the company.

According to the release, 53,000,917 shares were released from escrow on Wednesday. These shares were the final tranche subject to escrow from Whispir's IPO in June last year.

From these, 20,320,950 shares were sold to new and existing domestic and international investors at a price of $3.81 per share after the market close yesterday. This is a discount of over 10% to its last close price and represents a total consideration of approximately $77.4 million.

Given that Whispir listed on the ASX last year at a price of $1.60, it appears as though these early investors have decided to crystallise some their impressive gains.

According to the AFR, one of those shareholders is believed to be Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS). At the last count its Telstra Ventures Fund was the second largest shareholder behind the company's CEO Jeromy Wells. 

Mr Wells commented: "I would like to thank our formerly escrowed shareholders for their support, before, during and after our IPO in June 2019. Their support has been instrumental in enabling our growth and listing on the ASX."

"Whispir's communications workflow platform has a significant global market opportunity, supporting and facilitating long-term macro communications trends in process automation, digital customer engagement and broader digital transformation projects. New customer wins in the second half of FY20 ensure we are well-positioned for growth in FY21 and we remain focused on increasing our international footprint as we welcome new institutional investors to the WSP register," he concluded.

James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends Whispir Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Telstra Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Whispir Ltd. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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