Brussels (dpa-AFX) - The Belgian major shareholder Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) has sold its shares in plant engineering company Gea. The holding company placed 11.25 million shares for 32.63 euros each. This was announced by GBL in Brussels on Tuesday. This roughly corresponds to the package that the holding company last held. The Belgian investor was thus the second-largest shareholder in GEA after Kuwait Investment Office (KIA). GBL joined GEA in 2017 and even wanted to significantly increase its stake in 2018. At that time, GBL was still controlled by billionaire Albert Frère. However, he died in December 2018 and the Gea share fell by around six percent to EUR 32.79 in early trading. The share thus extended its loss this year to around 14 percent./mne/zb/tih