Promoter sells 1% stake in UB Group's fertiliser firm MCFL

UB Group's Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers (MCFL) today said its promoter firm McDowell Holdings Ltd has sold 1.01% stake in the company for Rs 3.4 crore in the open market.

In a filing to the BSE, MCFL said promoter firm McDowell Holdings sold 12 lakh shares on March 28 on BSE and NSE platforms for Rs 3,39,67,165 crore.

Consequently, the stake of McDowell Holdings in MCFL has come down to 4.92% from the earlier 5.93%.

Out of 12 lakh shares, the promoter offloaded 6.75 lakh shares on BSE and 5.25 lakh shares on the NSE.

Last week, SBI group entity had sold over one crore shares (nearly 10% stake) in the MCFL, which was bought by rival Zuari Fertilisers.

Promoters -- United Breweries Holdings, United Spirit and McDowell Holdings -- together held a stake of 30.44% in MCFL by the end of December 2012, nearly 70% of their shares were pledged with various lenders.

A significant portion of the promoter shares in all UB group companies, including Kingfisher, are pledged with various lenders.

Amid huge accumulated losses and soaring debt levels of the airline that is grounded since October 2012, the lenders recently decided to begin the process of recovering their loans through sale of securities pledged with them.

At the BSE, shares of MCFL fell by 4.09% to close at Rs 41.05.