Onex chairman and CEO Gerry SchwartzJ.P. Moczulski/The Canadian Press
Onex Corp. chairman and chief executive officer Gerry Schwartz has sold a little over $18-million worth of shares of the big investment company.
Mr. Schwartz announced late Wednesday a numbered company he owns sold 500,000 subordinate voting shares of Onex on the Toronto Stock Exchange at about $36.40 each.
The sale amounted to $18.2-million and represented less than half a per cent of what the businessman owns of the subordinate shares.
He controls Onex through ownership of all the Toronto company's multiple voting shares.
The transaction revealed Wednesday leaves him with more than 22.6 million subordinate shares, or 19.65 per cent of that class of stock in Onex.
The company buys and sells businesses frequently and holds investments in a wide range of companies including a large stake in electronics maker Celestica Inc.
Onex' businesses generate $35-billion (U.S.) of annual revenues and employ 210,000 people around the world.
Last year, the Toronto-based private equity firm increased its investment in door and window manufacturer JELD-WEN Holdling Inc. by 28 per cent to $864-million.
Onex also sold Husky International for $2.1-billion. Husky makes injection moulding machines for manufacturers and was sold to the private equity arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and Berkshire Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm.
Onex also sold 2.7 million shares of aircraft parts maker Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. as well as U.S. ambulance operator Emergency Medical Services Corp.