The Taubman family is giving up control of Sotheby’s as part of a recapitalisation plan aimed at opening up the world’s largest auction house to outside investment and boosting earnings.

Five years after stepping down as chairman in the wake of a price-fixing scandal for which he was jailed, Alfred Taubman has agreed to ditch his 14m class B super-voting shares that gave him 62pc of the votes at the company and 22pc of the equity.

He will swap them for $168m in cash and 7.1m class A shares, which carry just 12pc of the votes and the same amount of equity. The B shares will be eliminated.

For Mr Taubman, the property developer who bought Sotheby’s in 1983, the transaction “is very much a stepping back”, according to his spokesman. He has not been active in the running of the auction house for many years and recognised that the family’s stake and voting control were “no longer meaningful or appropriate”. Ariel Capital Management, which owns 8.7m shares, will become the single largest shareholder.

Mr Taubman’s son Robert will remain on the board but will give up his executive positions.

Posted: 09|9|05 at 8:12 am. Filed under: UK News.