One of the Sainsbury family's charitable foundations sold a 2.6 per cent stake in the supermarket chain that bears the family name yesterday for about £130 million, bankers said.

Investment bank UBS said it had sold Sainsbury shares on behalf of The Gatsby Charitable Foundation.

The bank declined to provide further details, but dealers said 45 million Sainsbury shares were sold by the bank at 289-1/2 pence each. The Sainsbury family and various charitable trusts they are involved with own about one-third of the company that was founded by the family in 1869.

Sainsbury was not available to comment.

By 1450 GMT, shares in Sainsbury were down 2.5 per cent at 287-1/4p, valuing Britain's third biggest food retailer at just under £5 billion.

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