Fairfax Media is selling its remaining 51 per cent stake in auction website Trade Me to an investment bank.

In a statement to New Zealand stock exchange operator NZX, Trade Me says it had entered into an agreement with an investment bank for the sale of the shares.

“On completion of the sale, Fairfax Digital Holdings NZ Limited will no longer be a shareholder of Trade Me,” it said. “Trade Me understands that the book build being undertaken in connection with this sale is continuing.”

The 51 per cent stake adds up to around 202 million shares.

NZX had placed a trading halt on Trade Me shares and had requested a trading halt on the ASX. Shares on the NZX closed on Friday at $4.05. Fairfax bought Trade Me for $700 million in 2006 and floated 34 per cent of the company in December 2011 through an initial public offering which raised $363 million.

It sold a further 15 per cent in June 2012 for $206 million. Fairfax’s full-year accounts said Trade Me had a “somewhat variable performance” over the second half of 2011/12.

The sale will help Fairfax pay off debt – the company’s net debt stood at $A914 million ($NZ1.14 billion) at June 30, 2012. NZN