Weeks after bonds of Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) were downgraded, Franklin Templeton MF has dumped a portion of its holdings to a mystery buyer. The bonds, held by some of Franklin's debt schemes, were sold at a loss. The net asset values (NAVs) of these schemes had declined by as much as 1.5% in a day in mid-February after rating company Crisil downgraded JSPL securities to junk category.
Franklin sold the JSPL bonds at a 25% loss in the wake of the ratings cut, said people familiar with the development.
In a response to an e-mail query, a Franklin spokesman said the asset manager brought down its exposure to JSPL across its corporate bond fund portfolios in February. "Our exposure to JSPL stands at Rs 752 crore as of February 29, 2016, compared to Rs 1,641 crore as on January 29, 2016," said the spokesman, refusing to reveal the buyer. "We will not be able to disclose nonpublic information including transaction details of individual securities and future portfolio actions," the spokesman added.
