HDFC invokes nearly 82 mn pledged Unitech shares

HDFC has sold 1.29 crore shares of Unitech in the open market and invoked nearly 82 million pledged shares of the crisis-hit realty firm.

HDFC Ltd has sold 1,29,19,566 shares carrying voting rights worth 0.49 per cent stake, and invoked 8,19,88,820 pledged shares worth 3.13 per cent stake, according to a regulatory filing.

Promoters hold 17.92 per cent stake in Unitech, of which 73 per cent is pledged, as per the shareholding pattern at the end of the second quarter of this fiscal.

Unitech's share price closed marginally up at Rs 6.67 apiece on the BSE today. The company's market cap stood at around Rs 1,750 crore.

Unitech is facing huge protest from home buyers because of delay in completion of about 70 projects involving more than 16,000 flats.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court stayed the December 8 order of the NCLT allowing the Centre to take over the management of Unitech.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had suspended all the eight directors of the realty firm over allegations of mismanagement and siphoning of funds and authorised the Centre to appoint its 10 nominees on the board. The government had moved NCLT to protect the interests of about 20,000 home buyers.

In a statement yesterday, Unitech said the apex court order will help the company in completion of the projects and also refunds to customers.

"We will now work on getting the various accounts and receivables active again which were affected as consequence of the order dated December 8th.

"We strongly believe that the current management is better equipped to handle the completion of the 74 projects that are in various stages of construction," the statement had said.