Jimmy Cayne, a one-time travelling salesman who became a paper billionaire last year as chief executive of Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC - News) , has sold his entire stake in the investment bank for a little more than $61m.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr Cayne sold 5.6m Bear shares for $10.84 each on Tuesday, a day after after JPMorgan Chase agreed to raise its bid for the stricken investment bank fivefold to $10 a share. Mr Cayne's wife, Patricia, sold 45,669 shares at the same price.

The sale by Mr Cayne, who helped build Bear into a maverick Wall Street powerhouse during four decades at the company, suggests he does not believe JPMorgan will have to raise its $10-a-share bid. Shares in the stricken bank fell 5.6 per cent to $10.60 in after-hours trading.

Under the revised deal terms, JPMorgan is set to control nearly 50 per cent of Bear's shares, making the completion of its acquisition a near certainty. JPMorgan executives are already running many of Bear's businesses and making lucrative offers to retain Bear's top brokers.

There had been some suggestion that Mr Cayne, 74, who stepped down as chief executive in January but remained chairman, might try to find a rival bidder to trump JPMorgan's offer.

It remains at least theoretically possible that Mr Cayne sold his shares to someone who would vote against JPMorgan's offer, However, people close to JPMorgan said the sale strongly suggests the acquisition will close next month.

Bear shares hit an all-time high of $171.51 in January last year, making Mr Cayne's stake worth nearly $1bn and placing him near the top of the list of Wall Street wealthiest chief executives.

Mr Cayne had opportunities to sell Bear at its height, including to JPMorgan, but never received the four-times book value that he wanted.