Tim Barker
of The Sentinel Staff
Published in The Orlando Sentinel on January 12, 2000 .
Sunterra Corp.'s investors and competitors were scrambling Tuesday to figure out what prompted several large trades
a day earlier that sent the company's stock plummeting to its lowest value in more than a year.
In less than half an hour on Monday, four block trades ranging from 100,000 shares to 250,000 shares rocked the
company's position and shook investors' confidence.
By the time the dust settled, shares of the Orlando-based company had dropped $2.38 to $7 in one of the busiest
days in the company's trading history.
What rattled investors was the absence of an obvious reason for the decision by someone -- likely an institutional
investor, considering the size of the transaction -- to drop 730,000 shares of the company's stock.
There were no significant news events affecting Sunterra that would have prompted the dive. And in a somewhat unusual
move, the company would not comment Monday and Tuesday on the development.
Sunterra is one of the world's largest time-share companies, with 89 resorts scattered around the world. The company
has three resorts in Orlando, including Cypress Pointe Resort.
On Monday and Tuesday, investors were searching for answers on the Internet, where a wide range of theories were
being offered, including takeover talk, worries of some unannounced trouble and the idea that a large investor
simply wanted to get rid of his stock.
Analysts who follow the company were having no better luck finding answers.
"It's still a big mystery at this point," said one analyst, who asked not to be identified.
In Tuesday trading, the stock climbed as high as $8.06 before settling at $7.13, up 13 cents.
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