Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Cuts Stake In DHFL In December Quarter

Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has reduced his stake in Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd.—the steepest in his holdings on a quarterly basis.

Jhunjhunwala sold nearly 22.7 lakh shares of the company worth Rs 51 crore in the December-ended quarter, according to an exchange filing. That cuts his stake in the mortgage lender by 0.73 percent to 2.46 percent.

The investor’s stake in DHFL has waxed and waned over 2018. Jhunjhunwala cut his stake in the June-ended quarter by 0.43 percent, but later increased it by the same level as the Kapil Wadhawan-led company lost nearly 60 percent of its market value due to a liquidity crunch in the non-banking sector.

Defaults by the IL&FS group last year spooked equity investors, leading to mortgage lenders DHFL and Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd. plunging sharply as mutual funds sold their bonds and commercial papers at distress.

Shares of DHFL, which rose to a record in September 2018, fell 68 percent since then. The benchmark NSE Nifty declined 6.01 percent in the same period.