FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen on Wednesday signalled the sale of additional shares in its truck division Traton to raise the unit's free float and remove a hurdle for potential investors.

Following a partial initial public offering in 2019, most of Traton is owned by parent Volkswagen with the company's free float at a mere 10.28%. Since the beginning of the year, Traton shares have gained by more than half.

"However, the low free float remains an obstacle for many investors," Volkswagen Chief Executive Oliver Blume said in a speech manuscript published ahead of the group's annual general meeting.

"That is why we are prepared to successively increase the free float to make Traton shares a better prospect for investors."

Blume confirmed that Volkswagen planned to lower its stake in Traton to 75% plus one share over the medium-term, compared with 89.72% now. At the current market price, such a move would bring in 2.4 billion euros ($2.6 billion) for Volkswagen.

($1 = 0.9215 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Christina Amann, editing by Andrey Sychev and Rachel More)