LONDON (ShareCast) - Industrial investment conglomerate Melrose saw its long-running Chairman invest over six and a half millions pounds in the company this week.

Harris & Sheldon Investments, an investment company connected with Executive Chairman Christopher Miller, purchased 2.76m shares through three transactions between June 24th and June 26th, spending a total of £6.64m.

Miller, who joined the board back in 2003, now has a holding in Melrose of nearly 17m shares (equal to 1.34% of the issued share capital), 6.8m of which is held by Harris & Sheldon.

The transactions came just a few days after Melrose confirmed the sale of motor manufacturing division Marelli Motori for €212m (£181m), a higher price than analysts were estimating.

In a research report last week, broker Investec pointed out that the sale – combined with other disposals this year – increased the likelihood that Melrose could announce a “sizeable” cash return of around 50p a share, possibly by the end of 2013.

Top Director Buys

Melrose Industries (MRO)
Director name: Mr James Christopher Miller
Amount purchased: 1,651,480 @ 243.31p
Value: £4,018,216

Melrose Industries (MRO)
Director name: Mr James Christopher Miller
Amount purchased: 1,066,975 @ 236.69p
Value: £2,525,530

Liontrust Asset Management (LIO)
Director name: Mr John Stephen Ions
Amount purchased: 59,146 @ 192.50p
Value: £113,856

Melrose Industries (MRO)
Director name: Mr James Christopher Miller
Amount purchased: 41,545 @ 243.71p
Value: £101,249

Liontrust Asset Management (LIO)
Director name: Mr Vinay Kumar Abrol
Amount purchased: 39,602 @ 192.50p
Value: £76,234

Ariana Resources (AAU)
Director name: Mr Michael de Villiers
Amount purchased: 3,636,360 @ 1.00p
Value: £36,364

F&C Asset Management (FCAM)
Director name: Mr Edward Bramson
Amount purchased: 36,000 @ 94.73p
Value: £34,103

British Assets Trust (BSET)
Director name: Mr James Macleod
Amount purchased: 25,000 @ 125.75p
Value: £31,438

Imagination Technologies Group (IMG)
Director name: Mr David Hurst-Brown
Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 292.40p
Value: £29,240

SimiGon Ltd. (DI) (SIM)
Director name: Mr Alistair Rae
Amount purchased: 36,250 @ 28.00p
Value: £10,150

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