At least five mutual fund houses on 10th September received about Rs. 3,000 crore from the troubled Essel Group. The five MF houses are ICICI Prudential, HDFC, Aditya Birla, Kotak and Franklin Templeton. To make the payments, around 8.7% stake in Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (ZEEL) was sold to US-based fund Invesco. The group has sold a total of 11% stake, and the balance 2.3% stake will be completed over the next few days.
In January this year, Subhash Chandra, the main promoter of Essel Group, through a letter to the exchanges, disclosed that the group was facing liquidity issues in paying its creditors. Subsequent to the disclosure, fund houses had entered into agreements with Essel Group promoters to not go for a fire sale of ZEEL shares. This was after the promoters promised to pay them the full amount alongwith interest before 30th September. The fund houses had a total exposure of Rs. 6,600 crore to Essel Group.