• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, May 19, 2014

MDC Partners said Friday that CEO Miles Nadal had completed the sale of 3.5 million shares of his stock in the company to BMO Capital Markets, which will re-sell the shares as part of an underwritten offering.

According to SEC filings, BMO paid $23.14 for the shares, or nearly $81 million. 

MDC shares continued to drift downward on the NASDAQ exchange Monday. At midday, shares were down slightly more than 1% to $21.41. Since MDC announced the sale a week ago Class A shares are down about 15% -- with most of the decline (12%) occurring on May 13, the first full day of trading after the company made the announcement. At the time, MDC said Nadal was selling the stake as part of a portfolio diversification move.

With the sale completed, Fidelity Management & Research Co. has become the single largest shareholder in the Toronto-based holding company with a little over 6 million shares, according to SEC filings.

Nadal now owns 5.6 million shares of Class A stock, or about 11.1% of the outstanding shares -- down from a little more than 18% before the sale. His stake could drop lower, as BMO has an option to buy 525,000 additional shares. That would bring Nadal’s total closer to 5 million shares, leaving him with about 10.1% of the firm’s outstanding Class A stock.

Beyond confirming the completion of the sale of Nadal’s shares, the company had little to say about the transaction, but did note that the company itself “did not sell any Class A Shares in, and did not receive any proceeds from, the offering.”