INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Mumbai: The promoters of consumer goods firm Emami have sold 10 per cent of their equity holdings in the company on Monday for Rs 1,230
lenders, mainly mutual funds, have been nudging them to bring down the debt amid the 40 per cent fall in the shares since January.
Emami
domestic mutual funds such as L-T, SBI and Birla, said sources
funds keeping shares as collateral to invest in businesses like cement and power
collateral following the crash in shares of Zee Enterprises and Dish TV in the last week of January
Essel promoters led by Chandra had borrowed from mutual funds and NBFCs by pledging shares of Zee and Dish
They channeled the money to the infrastructure and finance businesses.
The Essel Group fiasco soon spread to groups and companies such as
Emami where promoter pledges were high.
Emami promoters had pledged shares with HDFC AMC, Reliance Nippon Life AMC, ICICI Prudential AMC,
SBI-SG Global Securities, Axis MF AMC and Invesco MF AMC, regulatory filings with stock exchanges revealed
Sources said these fund houses pushed Emami promoters to sell 10 per cent in the company in February to SBI Mutual Fund, Premji Invest,
consistent weak operating performance and rising promoter share pledge
got nothing to do with the operations of the company
For this purpose, we have adequate pool of diverse assets, which we may seek to monetise and we have already started the process of
identification of such assets," said Mohan Goenka.
