Lunit’s second-largest shareholder Guardant Health cuts stake in block deal

Lunit Inc. CI

Guardant Health Inc., a precision oncology company based in Palo Alto, California, the United States, has sold 400,000 shares in Lunit Inc., a South Korean medical AI company, in a block deal.

According to Lunit on Tuesday, the sale has led Guardant Health’s ownership in Lunit to decrease to 1.15 million shares, or 3.98 percent of the outstanding shares.

Guardant Health is still Lunit’s second-largest shareholder.

The buyer in the transaction was U.S.-based fund manager Brookdale Asset Management, which manages assets totaling $3 billion.

Lunit explained the block deal as part of Guardant Health’s financial strategy to partially realize investment returns, noting that it has been three years since the initial investment.

The two companies have maintained a partnership since 2021, collaborating on AI pathology solutions, including the development of Guardant360 TissueNext.

As of 11:18 a.m., Lunit was trading at 44,400 won ($33.4), down 8.17 percent from the previous session.