What a time it has been for the Washington H. Soul Pattinson & Company Ltd (ASX: SOL) share price in recent months. Soul Patts shares were as low as $31.70 each back in March, and got as high as $45.14 (a new record ) just a few weeks ago in early September.
However, since that date, things have only been going one way for this ASX 200 investment house, and not the right way.
Today, Soul Patts shares are going for $38.63 each at the time of writing. That puts the company down a significant 14.4% from that new record high that we saw earlier this month.
So what's caused this turn of the tide for this venerated ASX veteran?
Well, the elephant in the room is, of course, the blockbuster merger that Soul Patts shares have just minted with the old Brickworks Ltd.
Back in early June, the two companies announced that they would be merging. Previously, both companies had owned significant stakes in each other's shares – a decades-long corporate tie-up that was initially implemented to protect both stocks from corporate raiders in years gone by.
But now, that rather complex and unique arrangement is finally over. In its place, the 'new' Soul Patts incorporates both businesses. That includes the building material manufacturing and property assets of Brickworks. As well as the massive portfolios of shares and other assets that Soul Patts manages for its investors.
Initially, the market reacted very positively to this news. Soul Patts shares jumped more than 16% from $37 each to about $43 on the day the merger was announced.
The shares did bounce around a little after that, but remained at an elevated level relative to where they were prior.
Until 10 September, that is.
Image source: Getty Images
Why are Soul Patts shares down 14% in just a few weeks?
Let's discuss what caused Soul Patts shares to drop to a near-four-month low. Soul Patts shares' last high came on the same day Soul Patts released the news that shareholders had given the final nod to the Brickworks merger. The only ASX releases the company made over the rest of September (until today, anyway) were regulatory paperwork related to the merger.
With this in mind, we can perhaps come to the conclusion that investors were spurred to push Soul Patts higher on news of the merger. Once the merger was a done deal and Brickworks shares were removed from the ASX, the euphoria died down, and investors may have come to the conclusion that the Soul Patts share price had run a little too high.
This company has always tended to trade at something of a premium to its underlying assets. To illustrate, the company informed investors just today that its net tangible asset per share was worth $27.90 at the end of July 2025. The last time Soul Patts stock actually traded at that valuation was back in early 2023.
Even considering the Brickworks merger, it's not too much of a stretch to imagine that investors started taking profits off the table when the shares got to $45 each.
Let's see what the rest of 2025 holds in store for Soul Patts shares.
