Data available with NSE showed that a bulk sale of 7.25 million shares, at Rs 281.75 apiece, of the company was carried out by Catalyst Trusteeship on September 23.
Shares of Zee Entertainment rebounded smartly to jump over 5 percent on September 24 and looked on course to break the losing spree of the last six consecutive sessions.
The stock has been under pressure of late amid reports of the company's poor financial health.
On September 23, lenders to the Essel group sold pledged promoters’ shares of Zee Entertainment for over Rs 200 crore.
Data available with NSE showed that a bulk sale of 7.25 million shares, at Rs 281.75 a piece, of the company was carried out by Catalyst Trusteeship on September 23. The transaction was valued at Rs 204.26 crore. The selling price was 9 percent below the stock’s opening price of Rs 310 on NSE.
“The Essel group confirms that the lenders who had not agreed to grant the extension have exited by selling the pledged shares of ZEEL. The other lenders, who value the assets, have in-principally agreed to grant more time to the group," Newspaper Mint reported, quoting a Zee spokesperson saying so.
Analysts think a bounce in the stock should be used as an opportunity to exit the stock.
"Any bounce in the stock is a good time to exit as the lenders are selling and repayment of debt is taking a toll on the group as the full focus is on paring debt than increasing market share," said Sameer Kalra, Founder, Target Investing.
According to a Mint report, as of December 2018, the promoters of the Essel group owed about Rs 13,000 crore to the lenders, while the businesses had borrowed another Rs 16,237 crore.
About Rs 7,500 crore of the promoter’s debt, owed to a handful of mutual funds and some NBFCs, was supposed to be due for repayment on 30 September.
Zee Entertainment is engaged with lenders on optimising value from an asset sale and the promoters have requested that the September 30 deadline for the repayment of debt be extended.
Shares of Zee Entertainment traded 2.85 percent higher at Rs 279.85 on BSE around 1240 hours.Get access to India's fastest growing financial subscriptions service Moneycontrol Pro for as little as Rs 599 for first year. Use the code "GETPRO". Moneycontrol Pro offers you all the information you need for wealth creation including actionable investment ideas, independent research and insights & analysis For more information, check out the Moneycontrol website or mobile app.
