Shares at pub operator Punch Taverns dipped almost 7% last week after US investment bank Texas Pacific Group (TPG), one of its original backers, sold its 21.8% share.
The sale is reported to be worth just over £200m, or 411p a share, although TPG didn't reveal details.
A group of investors including TPG, Morgan Stanley and George Soros's Quantum fund bankrolled Hugh Osmond's £2.75b takeover of Allied Domecq's 3,500-pub estate in 1999. After the sale the business was split into leased division Punch Taverns and the managed estate, Spirit Group.
Punch Taverns bought Pubmaster for £1.19b last month in a deal which elevated it to the largest UK pub operator.