To clear its loan obligations, debt-laden Essel Group on November 20 announced plans to sell 16.5 percent stake in its flagship company Zee Entertainment Enterprises to financial investors.
Promoter Subhash Chandra along with his family owes over Rs 7,000 crore to domestic lenders, including mutual funds, and Russian lender VTB. The promoter and promoter group holds 22.37 percent equity in ZEE, of which 96 percent was pledged with lenders, as per shareholding data available on the exchanges.
With this stake sale, mutual fund experts believe that fund houses will get back their capital stuck with the Essel Group.
