A unit of Goldman Sachs has sold off the 12.4 per cent stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (MMC) that it had bought from DaimlerChrysler to undisclosed parties, the Japanese automaker said yesterday.

MMC said it did not know the buyers of the shares.

Goldman, which after the transaction has 1.04 per cent of MMC, declined to comment. But a financial source said on Friday the unit, Goldman Sachs International, was placing the shares with institutional investors around the world.

Shares in MMC, Japan's only loss-making car maker, tanked 11.37 per cent to 265 yen in heavy trade by mid-afternoon. Last week, the stock touched an intraday high of 363 yen - a level industry analysts consider too high.

"Investors are turned off by the frequent changes in MMC's stakeholders, especially given that the company is going through restructuring now," said Nagayuki Yamagishi, strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co.

Former controlling shareholder DaimlerChrysler had said it planned to hold on to its diminished MMC stake for the short term, but drew the final curtain last Friday by selling its entire 12.4 per cent to the Goldman Sachs unit.

That leaves the Mitsubishi group as MMC's only longer-term investor, with the three main sister companies - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corp. and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group - owning a combined 31.6 per cent as of end-September.

The Mitsubishi group came to MMC's rescue in April last year when DaimlerChrysler refused further financial aid to its ailing partner, pouring billions of dollars and naming several executives for key management posts, including the top job.