Hassen Adams, executive chair of Grand Parade Investments (GPI), sold R60m worth of ordinary shares in the company on Tuesday.
Adams sold 20 000 000 at R3 each, according to a Sens statement.
Shares in GPI [JSE:GPL] were trading at R2.79 a share at 14:52 on the JSE on Tuesday, up 7.31% on the day.
GPI holds the master franchise for Burger King in SA and has investments in, among others, the GrandWest casino property, Sun Slots gaming, Spur and Baskin-Robbins.
The JSE-listed group, however, announced in February that it was parting ways with Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robbins as they have negatively impacted on its cash resources.
Meanwhile the big question now is who bought the shares, said Ricco Friedrich, a portfolio manager at Denker Capital and who has investments in GPI on behalf of clients.
He pointed out that Adams was not present at the recent results presentation of GPI.
"The clear message of his absence was noticed at the last results presentation and other recent meetings," said Friedrich.
"His sale of the shares would lead any investor to ask the question of what role he intends to play in the business going forward."
Friedrich estimates that the number of shares sold is likely not even half of those owned by Adams.
Fin24 attempted to reach Adams for comment. A written reply from his office, only explained that "the shares were sold by Nadeson Investments, which is owned by the Nadeson Trust of which Mr Adams is the major beneficiary" and that the shares were sold to a third party.
In October last year Adams indicated that he was determined to ward off what he called at the time "an attempted hostile takeover by some minority shareholders".
The minority shareholders said they were concerned about governance, poor results and the departure of several key executives over a period of 18 months.
At the time Adams said for him it has always been about creating long-term, sustainable value.