Essel Group shares under pressure; Zee Entertainment, Dish TV down over 6%

While Zee Ent slipped 7 per cent to Rs 343 on Wednesday, falling 21 per cent in past five trading days, Dish TV India plunged 8 per cent to Rs 29.15, down 19 per cent during the same period.

Shares of Subhash Chandra-led Essel Group companies were under pressure on Wednesday with Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEE) and Dish TV India falling more than 6 per cent each on the BSE. The fall comes despite the group's assurance that the stake sale process of Zee Entertainment Enterprises was at an "advanced stage."

Stock price of the group’s flagship company ZEE slipped 7 per cent to Rs 343 during the intra-day trade, falling 21 per cent in past five trading days. The counter has seen huge trading volumes with a combined 12.3 million shares changing hands till 10:29 am. Relatively, on an average, less than 13 million shares were traded daily in past two weeks on the NSE and BSE.

"The stake sale process of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd undertaken by Essel Group, is in steady progress and at an advanced stage. The group cannot share any additional details at this stage due to confidentiality agreements," Essel Group said in a statement.

ZEE had announced in November last year that its promoters, led by Subhash Chandra, planned to sell up to 50 per cent of their equity stake in the company to a strategic partner.

Similarly, Dish TV India has plunged 8 per cent to Rs 29.15, down 19 per cent during the past five trading sessions. In comparison, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex has fallen 3 per cent in the month of May so far.

On January 25, Essel group companies had come under massive selling pressure, plummeting up to 33 per cent, and suffered a combined erosion of Rs 13,352 crore in market valuation.

According to the shareholding pattern as of March, 2019, the promoters' holding in ZEE has declined by 342 percentage points to 38.20 per cent from 41.62 per cent at the end of Q3FY19. The promoters of ZEE have pledged 66.18 per cent of their stake in the company as of March 31, 2019 against 59.37 per cent as of December 31, 2018.

Likewise, the promoters' holding of Dish TV India has declined to 57.99 per cent in quarter ending March, 2019 from 60.83 per cent at the end of the previous quarter. Share pledging by promoters increased to 94.60 per cent from 82.05 per cent during the same period.

The board of directors of the company will meet on May 27, 2019 to approve the audited financial results for the quarter and financial year ended on March 31, 2019.