MANOJa

Real estate firm Unitech today said two of its promoters firms , Prakausali Investments (India) and Mayfair Investments, have pledged equity shares equivalent to a 24 per cent stake in the construction firm. However, the company did not specify whether the shares were pledged to banks or financial institutions.
Prakausali Investments (India) and Mayfair Investments have pledged a 19.88 per cent and 4 per cent stake, respectively, Unitech informed the Bombay Stock Exchange in a regulatory filing. Firms usually pledge equity shares as collateral to raise working capital or avails loans when normal credit facilities are unavailable to them. Shares of the company closed at Rs 66.55 on the BSE today, up 0.53 per cent from the previous close.

MANOJa

The shareholding pattern of real estate major Unitech has undergone a change, with promoters increasing their stake to 48.57 per cent upon conversion of warrants into equity. Promoters Ramesh Chandra and his sons had pumped Rs 380 crore into the company in December to convert the last tranche of warrants held by them into equity, which increased their combined stakeholding to 48.57 per cent.

Unitech’s shares fell by 5 per cent and the scrip closed at Rs 61.80, compared to the previous close of Rs 65.05. Unitech is a widely held company, with over 600,000 shareholders. FIIs’ holding in the company stands at 34.24 per cent and remained constant during the previous quarter. Asked whether the shareholding of other categories of investors, like retail investors, has also undergone a change in view of the promoters increasing their stake, sources said retail investors and domestic institutions’ stake may have gone down by about 0.25 per cent each.

Marquee investors like HSBC, Platinum, Morgan Stanley and Mathews International hold a considerable stake in Unitech. According to sources, HSBC has maintained its shareholding in Unitech at the same level since the last quarter, while Platinum, an Australia-based Mutual Fund, bought a 2.84 per cent stake in the company from the open market during the previous quarter (October-December, 2010).

Morgan Stanley has also increased its stake from 1.39 per cent to 1.44 per cent during this period, company sources said, adding that Copthall, a part of JP Morgan , also bought a 1.26 per cent stake from the open market in the third quarter of the current financial year. Asked about the company’s debt-equity ratio, sources said it continues to remain at 0.5 per cent.