Three leading mutual funds — Reliance Mutual, Birla Mutual and DSP BlackRock — and a Foreign Institutional Investor together bought almost the entire 13.05 per cent stake in SpiceJet Ltd, the low-cost air carrier, of Istithmar PJSC, a Dubai-based investment house.
The three Indian MFs together bought stake amounting to 9.61 per cent in SpiceJet. Birla Mutual bought 4.14 per cent, DSP BlackRock 3.6 per cent and Reliance 1.87 per cent. The unidentified FII got the rest.
With this, the total foreign holding in SpiceJet has reduced to a little over 26 per cent from 35 per cent earlier.
The deal was struck at Rs 52.01 per share and is valued at Rs 169 crore. Istithmar was holding a 13.39 per cent stake in the company. The shares of SpiceJet fell 1.65 per cent today, to close at Rs 53.80.
Istithmar sold about 31.5 million shares out of the 32.3 million they held at Rs 169 crore. However, the company still holds about $12 million worth of Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs).
“We have been informed that Istithmar World has sold its equity stake in SpiceJet but they remain invested in the company through FCCBs,” said an airline spokesperson.
The Dubai liquidity crunch is said to be the prime reason for Istithmar’s decision. The leading private equity company had, last December, actually said it would raise its stake in SpiceJet to $50 million from its earlier investment of $12.5 million, through FCCBs.
The other prominent stakeholders of SpiceJet are the Kansagara family, Ewert Investment, BNP Paribas and several other institutional investors.
