Motorpoint’s share value slumped by over 15% after the car supermarket’s founder David Shelton sold 11 million shares “in connection with divorce proceedings”.

An announcement made via the London Stock Exchange (LSE) yesterday afternoon (September 5) alerted shareholders to the sale of at least 8 million ordinary shares – a volume which would represent approximately 9% of the company's current issued share capital.

Motorpoint’s share prices had closed at 240p per share prior to yesterday’s announcement, but declined by 15.4% to 203p this morning.

The statement issued by the ID50's top independent car retail operation by turnover revealed the reason behind the sale, stating that it had come “in connection with divorce proceedings”..

Shelton, who carried out the sale through Shoby Investments Partnership with Numis acting as sole bookrunner, raised a total of £22m.

Separately, Motorpoint announced that it had agreed to buy 2.6m placing shares from Shelton and his partners at 200p each – representing an interest of about 23%.