Courtesy of Benzinga.
Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) today announced that Dr. Min H. Kao, the company’s co-founder, chairman and CEO, and two family trusts, of which he is a trustee, have each established pre-arranged trading plans to sell a portion of their shares in the company over a designated period. The plans were adopted in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934.
Rule 10b5-1 allows corporate officers and directors to adopt written, pre-arranged stock trading plans when they do not have material, non-public information. Such programs provide for regular selling of a predetermined, fixed number of company shares in order to gradually diversify the individual’s investment portfolio, minimize the market effect of share sales by spreading them out over an extended period of time and avoid concerns about initiating transactions while in possession of material non-public information.
Dr. Kao, his wife and children have been the largest shareholders of Garmin since the initial public offering in December 2000. The family will continue to retain more than 20 percent of Garmin outstanding shares under the terms of these plans, maintaining the largest position in Garmin. Any transactions under the plan will be disclosed publicly through Form 144 and Form 4 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These plans represent the first sale of any shares of Garmin Ltd. by Dr. Kao and his family since the previous 10b5-1 trading plans filed in 2005 and 2006. Dr. Kao and the family trusts adopted the plans for tax planning purposes.
