Zee group, Anil Ambani group stocks fall over huge share pledging

Mumbai: Zee group and Anil Ambani group companies came under fresh selling pressure after a brokerage report said the two featured in a list of publicly traded firms with the highest percentage of their promoter shareholding pledged as of March 2019.

Zee Entertainment fell 11 per cent intra-day and finally closed 4.88 per cent lower at Rs 369.20 on the BSE while another Zee group company Dish TV fell 12 per cent intra-day and finally closed 8.88 per cent down at Rs 30.90.

Zee Entertainment and Dish TV, the companies from the Subhash Chandra-led Essel Group, have their promoters pledging 66.2 per cent and 94.6 per cent of the ownership, respectively.

Anil Ambani group’s Reliance Capital fell 4.34 per cent, closing at Rs 121.15 and Reliance Infrastructure fell 4.81 per cent, closing at Rs 101 on the BSE. The promoters have pledged 98.3 per cent of the holding in Reliance Infrastructure and 96.9 per cent in Reliance Capital, according to the report by brokerage Kotak Institutional Equities.

The report, based on an analysis of top 500 listed firms on the BSE, said the percentage of pledged promoter holdings by value has come down in the March 2019 quarter in comparison to the preceding December quarter. The percentage of pledged promoter holdings declined to 2.83 per cent in the March quarter from 2.98 per cent in the December 2018 quarter, it said.

Promoters’ pledged share outstanding stood at Rs 1.95 lakh crore, which is about 1.38 per cent of the market capitalisation of the BSE-500 Index as of March, it said, adding that of the top-500 firms, promoters of 116 companies have pledged their shares.

Other companies that saw a sharp increase in pledged shares during the quarter were JK Tyre and VA Tech Wabag. Companies that saw a decline in the quantum of shares pledged by the promoters included Reliance Communications, Granules India, Strides Pharma, Coffee Day Enterprises and Bajaj Consumer Care.

From the companies that make up the Nifty-50 Index, Zee Entertainment leads with the highest pledge at 66.2 per cent,  followed by Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel at 46.3 per cent and Gautam Adaniled Adani Ports & SEZ at 42.3 per cent, the report said.

Meanwhile, Sterlite Technologies rose 6.6 per cent intra-day after the company said that the promoter group has reached an in-principle agreement with lenders to remove pledge by July 2019.