Director Deeds: REA Group, CSL, Cochlear and more

We're heading towards the closing stages of reporting season, which means many directors are no longer faced with a blackout period. As a result, we've seen plenty of trades, especially in the ‘buy' column.

By far the biggest trade of the fortnight occurred on August 16, when Navigator Global Investments non-executive director Andy Bluhm sold almost half of his holding in the asset manager – 13,000,000 shares to be precise – off the market at an average price of $5.50 per share. That's a whopping $71,500,000! This came one week after the company announced a net profit after tax increase of 27 per cent over the previous financial year, but this figure excludes the changes to the US company tax rate. Taking into account a one-off payment caused by the new tax policy, Navigator actually ended up making a loss of just over $US13 million. The stock closed trading on August 16 at a price of $5.97, which has fallen to $5.80 at close of trade on Tuesday. If the Bluhm name sounds familiar, it may be because Andy is the son of American real estate magnate Neil Bluhm, who is believed to be worth around $US3.3 billion.

It would be fair to say that more than a few eyebrows were raised when REA Group CEO Tracey Fellows sold all but 12 of her shares in the company on August 17 for just over $910,000. This came only a week after the company reported a 23 per cent net profit increase for the last financial year, leaving many scratching their heads. However, the activity became clearer four days later when Fellows was granted 16,474 shares as a vesting of performance rights, with her holding in the company now totalling 16,486 shares worth close to $1.48 million as of Tuesday's trading close.

Over to another company which reported positively, the second piece of big news for the fortnight occurred at CSL, where CEO Paul Perreault exercised 94,828 performance options at $73.93 per share, which equates to just over $7 million worth of shares. As you are probably well aware, the CSL share price is currently much higher than $73.93, and Perreault took advantage, promptly selling all 94,828 shares for $215.4386 each, pocketing just under $20.5 million – an overall profit of over $13 million. The transaction means Perreault's holdings remain unchanged at 52,832 shares worth almost $12 million at close of trading on Tuesday.

It's that time of year where executives are issued performance bonuses in the form of extra shares, and Cochlear Limited CEO Diggory Howitt is no different. He exercised 5,000 options made available to him under an incentive program at a price of $82.89 per share, which were then sold on the market for $209.30 per share. That's a profit of $632,050.

Not bad, but Orora CEO Nigel Garrard was able to make an even more impressive profit of over $5 million after he exercised options and was issued rights at a cost of close to $1.5 million, all of which he sold.

It was a similar situation at Shopping Centres Australasia Property Group, with the CEO and CFO both selling a significant number of shares one day apart. However, it wasn't part of a mass sell-off, as CEO Anthony Mellowes and CFO Mark Fleming were each selling stapled units they had received days earlier under an incentive plan to fund personal tax liabilities. Mellowes sold more than $1.25 million worth of shares on August 13, while Fleming sold his entire 255,061 stapled unit bonus for over $600,000 on August 14. The company reported a net profit after tax of $175.2 million, representing a 45.2 per cent decrease from the previous year's figure.

It was a big week at Tabcorp Holdings, with CEO and managing director David Attenborough selling 350,000 shares at a price of $4.73 each. The shares were sold on the market, but there's no reason to panic, with personal financial obligations being the reason given for the sale. Seven days earlier, non-executive director Justin Milne added to his stake in the company, purchasing close to $50,000 worth of shares on the market. Milne is currently the chairman of the ABC.

Managing director of Mineral Resources Limited Chris Ellison is certainly not afraid to put some skin in the game, purchasing almost $5.5 million in shares on the market on August 20. He backed it up two days later, buying an extra 38,000 shares valued at over $570,000 for his super fund. That's a lot of skin.

Speaking of putting extra skin in the game, Treasury Wine Estates chairman Paul Rayner purchased 18,700 shares over two days at a cost of almost $350,000 for his super fund. This took his fund's holding in the company to an even 220,000 shares. Non-executive directors Ed Chan, Michael Cheek and Colleen Jay each added smaller parcels of shares to increase their own stakes in the company.

Now to someone reducing his amount of skin in the game. IPH Limited CEO and managing director Andrew Blattman sold 2 million shares worth $11.1 million in an off-market transaction. The reason given for the sale was partly attributed to tax obligations. Blattman's holding in the company is now just over 2.5 million shares worth over $14.5 million at Tuesday's close.

Other prominent buyers included IOOF chairman George Venardos (5,860 shares worth just over $50,000); JB Hi-Fi non-executive director Beth Laughton (1,500 shares worth just under $40,000); Cochlear Limited non-executive director Bruce Robinson (518 shares worth over $100,000); Bluescope Steel non-executive director Jennifer Lambert (6,000 shares worth $102,450); Iluka Resources non-executive director Robert Cole (4,000 shares worth almost $40,000); Kogan chairman Greg Ridder (8,000 shares worth almost $50,000); and Seek Limited non-executive director Julie Fahey (1,900 shares worth more than $40,000).

Credit Corp Group chairman Don McLay was the big seller of the fortnight, making a substantial sale on the market of 15,000 shares for almost $350,000 between August 15 and 17. He wasn't done there though, selling another 18,438 shares for $440,475 between August 21 and 27. The sale of more than 30,000 in the space of two weeks barely put a dent in his total holding – he still holds over 1.5 million shares in the company, valued at more than $35 million as of Tuesday's trading close.

In one last notable transaction, outgoing Macquarie CEO and managing director Nicholas Moore was issued a parting gift of 148,005 share units (some restricted, some performance), along with the conversion of 68,933 performance share units into ordinary shares as the vesting of performance rights. He did not outlay any cash for these shares. At Tuesday's closing price of $124.56, those 68,933 shares are worth more than $8.5 million. Not a bad way to go out. Moore will retire from the CEO role on November 30, to be replaced by Shemara Wikramanayake.