UTI-1 to sell 27% NSDL stake

The Specified Undertaking of UTI (SU-UTI), the entity carved out of the erstwhile Unit Trust of India in late-2002, will sell its 27 per cent equity stake in National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) to a couple of public sector financial institutions, including banks.

SU-UTI, also known as UTI-1, would move the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) soon, sources said. Though no clear estimate is available on the valuation, the sources said the sale would fetch a significant amount, probably running into several hundred crores.

The move comes on the heels of its recent sale of holdings in country's premier bourse National Stock Exchange (NSE) to Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC), SBI and IL&FS. It sold 2 per cent stake in IDFC for Rs 300 crore, sources added.

SU-UTI, which was created to bailout UTI after the Ketan Parekh-led securities scam of 2002, to manage and exit holdings of its assured return schemes (U.S-64), is also selling the seven-storeyed UTI Towers building to UTI Mutual Fund.

"We have offered to buy UTI Towers from SU-UTI," U.K.Sinha, chairman and managing director of UTI Mutual Fund told Business Standard.

UTI Towers, located in Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla Complex, is the headquarters of UTI Mutual Fund. The building is expected to fetch SU-UTI anywhere between Rs 150 and Rs 200 crore.

SU-UTI will also divest its stake in the unlisted ICRA Ltd during its forthcoming initial public offerings (IPO). ICRA has already filed the draft IPO documents with the Sebi and it is expected to hit the market soon, the sources said.

The sources added that SU-UTI was also exploring ways to divest its stake in another unlisted rating agency Care Ltd.