Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) fell 4.47% to Rs 259.95 as lenders to the Essel group sold pledged promoters' shares of ZEEL for over Rs 200 crore on Monday.
As per the bulk deal data, Catalyst Trusteeship offloaded 72.50 lakh shares of ZEEL at an average price of Rs 281.75 on the NSE yesterday, 23 September 2019.As of 30 June 2019, the ZEEL promoters held 34.38 crore shares, or 35.80% stake, in the company. Of this, over 21.99 crore shares were pledged.
Recently some media reports suggested that a Delhi High Court-appointed arbitrator asked Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra not to sell his unpledged stake in ZEEL till next month in an ongoing dispute with Indiabulls Housing Finance over default in repayment of loans worth Rs 200 crore.
Essel Group has certain claims against Indiabulls Housing Finance and likewise Indiabulls Housing Finance also has certain claims against Essel Group, reports suggested.
Reports added that promoters of the Essel Group, which owns ZEEL, had entered into an agreement with mutual funds, getting time till 30 September to repay debt. This agreement prevented the funds from selling the shares held as collateral.
The Essel Group has reportedly repaid around 45-60% of its outstanding debt to the mutual fund houses. The mutual fund industry reportedly had a total exposure of over Rs 5,000 crore to Essel Group. In July, the group had raised Rs 4,224 crore by selling an 11% stake in Zee Entertainment to global fund Invesco Oppenheimer.
Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 59 points or 0.15% to 39,030.70.
The market surged in the past two sessions after the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday, 20 September 2019, slashed corporate tax rate to 22% without exemptions. The effective corporate tax rate after surcharge now stands at 25.17%. The step has significant positive implications for corporates' profitability, broader economy and market valuations.
As on 31 March 2019, Zee Entertainment Enterprises paid corporate tax of 37.04%.
On the BSE, 24.12 lakh shares were traded in the ZEEL counter so far compared with average daily volumes of 12.90 lakh shares in the past two weeks. The stock hit a high of Rs 278.85 and a low of Rs 256.1 so far during the day.
The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 506.1 on 17 December 2018. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 278.85 on 24 September 2019.
ZEEL's consolidated net profit rose 62.6% to Rs 530.57 crore on 13.3% increase in net sales to Rs 2008.12 crore in Q1 June 2019 over Q1 June 2018.
ZEEL is one of India's leading media and entertainment companies.
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