Jack Petchey’s Trefick, the private investment company, has sold its entire 17.3% stake in dealer group Lookers for £44 million.

Trefick has sold 66,224,910 ordinary shares at 66 pence per share.

Mike Allen, executive director at Panmure Gordon, believes “mainly existing institutional investors bought the stake, with some new names potentially added to the register”.

Petchey launched a takeover bid for Lookers which was rejected in June last year.

Trefick teamed up with real estate private equity investment advisors Moor Park and venture capitalist Brett Palos to submit a formal written approach to the Lookers' board but revealed it would not be launching further bids after its last bid was rejected.

Allen said: "We see Lookers as strong operators, and should remain in a position to outperform its key end markets despite the difficult macro backdrop."