The Union First Market Bank headquarters in downtown Richmond. (RBS photo)
Markel last week sold 500,000 of its shares of Union First Market Bank back to the downtown-based bank for $9.5 million.
That marks more than $21 million Union has spent since December to purchase shares back from Markel. And it brings the total number of shares of Union stock Markel has sold since November to 1.5 million in transactions totaling more than $24 million.
The sales come at a time when Union’s stock price is at its highest point since early 2009.
Union’s stock closed Friday at $19.60 per share. That’s up more than $4 per share since Markel began regularly selling off its stake late last year.
The cash comes back to Markel’s coffers as the company works toward the acquisition of a Bermuda reinsurance company. That deal, set to close this year, has a $3 billion price tag.
Both Union and Markel have declined to comment on the stock transactions.
Markel took its stake in Union as a result of the merger in 2010 of two predecessor institutions, Union Bank & Trust and First Market Bank.
Markel had been a major shareholder in First Market Bank, which was co-founded in 1997 by the Ukrop’s Supermarkets and the former National Commerce Bank Corp. in Tennessee.
Following the merger, First Market shareholders received stock in the combined company that left Markel with as much as 13 percent of Union First Market Bank.
After the recent sales, Markel owns fewer than 2 million shares of Union stock.
Other former First Market insiders continue to own large stakes in Union First Market Bank.
Steven Markel, vice chairman of the company that bears his family’s name, sits on the Union First Market Bank board and is a major shareholder in the bank. He had been a director of First Market Bank.
Jim Ukrop, who was at the helm of his family’s supermarket chain during the bank merger, owns 870,000 Union shares, about 3 percent of its shares outstanding.
Ukrop in February cut a deal for Union First Market Bank to buy back more than 335,000 of his shares for $4.36 million. Ukrop said at the time that he was using the money to help pay down the principal on a loan for Ginter Place, a condominium project in the former Richmond Memorial Hospital building on Westwood Avenue.
Ukrop last week sold an additional 4,399 Union shares at $17.79 per share, a total sale of $78,000.
The Union First Market Bank headquarters in downtown Richmond. (RBS photo)
Markel last week sold 500,000 of its shares of Union First Market Bank back to the downtown-based bank for $9.5 million.
That marks more than $21 million Union has spent since December to purchase shares back from Markel. And it brings the total number of shares of Union stock Markel has sold since November to 1.5 million in transactions totaling more than $24 million.
The sales come at a time when Union’s stock price is at its highest point since early 2009.
Union’s stock closed Friday at $19.60 per share. That’s up more than $4 per share since Markel began regularly selling off its stake late last year.
The cash comes back to Markel’s coffers as the company works toward the acquisition of a Bermuda reinsurance company. That deal, set to close this year, has a $3 billion price tag.
Both Union and Markel have declined to comment on the stock transactions.
Markel took its stake in Union as a result of the merger in 2010 of two predecessor institutions, Union Bank & Trust and First Market Bank.
Markel had been a major shareholder in First Market Bank, which was co-founded in 1997 by the Ukrop’s Supermarkets and the former National Commerce Bank Corp. in Tennessee.
Following the merger, First Market shareholders received stock in the combined company that left Markel with as much as 13 percent of Union First Market Bank.
After the recent sales, Markel owns fewer than 2 million shares of Union stock.
Other former First Market insiders continue to own large stakes in Union First Market Bank.
Steven Markel, vice chairman of the company that bears his family’s name, sits on the Union First Market Bank board and is a major shareholder in the bank. He had been a director of First Market Bank.
Jim Ukrop, who was at the helm of his family’s supermarket chain during the bank merger, owns 870,000 Union shares, about 3 percent of its shares outstanding.
Ukrop in February cut a deal for Union First Market Bank to buy back more than 335,000 of his shares for $4.36 million. Ukrop said at the time that he was using the money to help pay down the principal on a loan for Ginter Place, a condominium project in the former Richmond Memorial Hospital building on Westwood Avenue.
Ukrop last week sold an additional 4,399 Union shares at $17.79 per share, a total sale of $78,000.