Stagecoach Group PLC (LON:SGC) founders Sir Brian Souter, currently a non-executive director, and his sister Dame Ann Gloag, have begun selling shares in the transport company with the intention of slashing their stake by 80% over the coming decade.
The shares fell 6% to 93.95p on Wednesday morning.
READ: Stagecoach Group - last stop for the founders
The pair sold 11.6mln shares to institutional shareholders, reducing their holding from 27.1% to 25.0%.
Their plan is to reduce their shareholdings to 5% over ten years, which would amount to an average annual sale of around 2.2% of the company's shares.
They said this was as a result of financial planning decisions to manage the balance and diversification of their investment portfolios.
Following this sale, the family is subject to a 90-day lock-up.
"This may result in some periodic downward pressure on the stock price, but should increase the freefloat," said broker Peel Hunt, which reiterated its 'buy' recommendation and 125p target price.