He said it was time to sell the stock after having held it for a long time.

A Securities and Exchange Commission report said Ayuth sold 7.3 million EMC shares on Tuesday, reducing his holding to 17.14 million shares, or 3.6 per cent, from 24.44 million shares, or 5.12 per cent.

Of the 7.3 million shares, 5.63 million were part of his own holding, while the rest were part of Chatikarn Leeissaranukul's holding. The sale was made via the stock market.

Ayuth started investing in EMC last October 25, when he exercised warrants to common shares and became the company's major shareholder, with 10.35 per cent.

Ayuth said he would gradually sell his remaining shares through the stock market, because he had already invested in the company for a long time. He declined to disclose the cost of the shares he had invested.

"Now I won't hold EMC shares any more and will sell out. The price is quite settled, and there's no need to hold them any more," he added.

Chanachai Leenaban-chong, EMC's chief executive and major shareholder, said even though Ayuth had sold his shares to retail investors, that would not affect the company's operations.

Anyone investing in the company long term will receive a return from dividends once its financial situation improves, he said.

EMC's share price increased to a peak of Bt3.40 on June 4 and fell to a low of Bt2.68 on June 13, with an average price of Bt3.05. It closed yesterday at Bt2.90, up 0.69 per cent.