Aryzta, majority shareholder in Origin Enterprises, has announced that it will offload more than half (up to 49m) of its shares to institutional investors. This means Aryzta, which currently holds 85.3m shares in Origin (68.1%), will reduce its ownership to 28.9%.

Aryzta will enter into a lock-up arrangement for 120 days following the completion of the placing and will publish the definitive number of shares placed and their price once the book-building process is complete. Book building is a means by which companies establish what price investors are likely to pay for a particular share or security.