Promoter Share Sales Here To Stay In 2020

After a year that saw some of India’s top business tycoons lose control of their companies as lenders invoked shares offered as collateral against debt, 2020 could see more of that.

That’s because controlling shareholders of at least 50 Indian companies have pledged nearly all their holdings, according to data on the BSE. And they contribute more than half of Rs 2.21 lakh crore worth of shares pledged by Indian promoters as on Jan. 6.

Shares of these firms are at a higher risk of coming under selling pressure in case of any concerns over debt.

Anil Ambani, Subhash Chandra, and Rana Kapoor lost control of their companies last year as they either divested stake in companies or lenders sold shares offered as collateral to cover borrowings. In all, promoter shares worth over Rs 53,000 crore were sold last year to either cut debt or invoke collateral, according to Prime Database. That’s because raising capital was difficult as a liquidity crunch stemming from 2018’s IL&FS crisis dried up funding. Some of those concerns persist as debt investors and lenders have turned selective.

Promoters may sell equity instead of taking on more debt before the market depresses value, Satyen Shah, head of investment banking at Edelweiss Financial Services, said citing 2019 as a lesson when stocks came under pressure because of debt against shares. Many of the companies have had a strong operational performance and there is investor appetite at these valuations, said Shah.

As on Jan. 6, promoters of 745 companies listed on the BSE have pledged shares worth Rs 2.21 lakh crore, according to exchange data.

Of these, controlling shareholders of 179 companies—from group A and B categories—have offered more than 35 percent of their holdings each as collateral. Put together, these are worth Rs 1.43 lakh crore.
Promoters of 50 such companies account for 93 percent of the pledge value aggregating Rs 1.34 lakh crore.

To be sure, not all these shares have been pledged by promoters to raise debt for personal purposes. In many of these instances, they have offered personal holding as collateral against capex funding for the listed entity.

Debt Woes

Promoters who lost control or sold shares to pare debt in 2019:

Anil Ambani

Sold stake in profitable asset management firm to partner Nippon Life Insurance Co. to repay debt.
Lenders sold pledged shares of companies like Reliance Power after the group defaulted on interest payments.

Subhash Chandra

Sold almost entire promoter holding in broadcaster Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. to cut personal debt.

Rana Kapoor

Sold all stake in Yes Bank Ltd. to pare debt of his family office even as the lender struggled to raise capital.

VG Siddhartha

Committed suicide as debt became unmanageable and tax officials sought probed business dealings. His family is now trying to divest assets of Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd. to pare debt.

Emami Promoters