FIIs increase LIC Housing pie by 12%

Domestic investors have sold their shares in the country's second largest housing finance company, LIC Housing Finance Ltd, but FIIs have seized the opportunity to increase their stake in it by as much as 12 per cent in the third quarter (October-December 2003) of the current fiscal.

IFCI has offloaded 5.08 per cent in LIC Housing Finance Ltd. Foreign institutional investors Merrill Lynch Capital Markets and Citigroup Global Markets Mauritius have increased their stake by 5.5 per cent in the company.

IFCI, which held around 10.32 per cent in the company, has reduced its stake to 5.24 per cent in the last three months.

FIIs' stake in LIC Housing in September was around 6 per cent. This rose to 18 per cent in the third quarter.

Merrill Lynch Capital Markets has picked up 5.11 per cent while Citigroup Global Markets Mauritius have picked up another 2 per cent in the company. Public holding in LIC Housing declined by 3 per cent in the same period.

Unit Trust of India (UTI) also sold three per cent stake and held 5.92 per cent in the third quarter, while UTI Master Share Unit Scheme and Birla Sunlife Insurance offloaded their entire stake of 3 per cent and 1.08 per cent, respectively.