Mainstream founders just made $1.3m from selling their shares

A new shareholder has prised 1.8 per cent of fund administrator Mainstream Group away from the chairman and the CEO.

Mainstream (ASX:MAI) founders Byram Johnston and Martin Smith — chairman and chief respectively — each sold 1 million shares to a new strategic investor on Friday. The company told the market on Monday morning.

The plan is to increase the free float of shares on the market and improve liquidity in the money manager, which has $133 billion funds under administration.

However, the two men’s ownership of the company has reduced only from a collective 41.2 per cent to 39.4 per cent.

Each made $650,000 from the sale.

Mainstream shares were flat at 63c.