Sahara Group's listed companies drop on SEBI order

Reuters Market Eye - Shares in Sahara Housingfina Corp and Sahara One Media and Entertainment Ltd slump after the SEBI ordered a freeze on the assets and bank accounts of two other companies belonging to Sahara Group.

Although Sahara Housingfina and Sahara One Media were not directly impacted by the order from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) late on Wednesday, the two are the only listed companies of Sahara Group.

SEBI on Wednesday ordered the freeze of assets on Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd, saying they failed to heed a Supreme Court order to repay billions of dollars they had collected in outlawed bonds. * SEBI also ordered a freeze on all properties and bank accounts held in the name of Sahara Group's founder Subrata Roy.

Sahara Group in a statement said the SEBI order did not take into account the redemptions it has made since January 2012 and that the liabilities were unlikely to exceed the money it has already deposited with the regulator.

Sahara Housingfina shares ended down 7.1 percent having fallen as much as 19 percent earlier. Sahara One ended up 0.4 percent after falling as much as 4.8 percent.

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy)