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The Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) Group has sold nearly 19 lakh shares in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Thursday to raise around Rs 380 crore, according to sources.
This is the second sale by the debt-laden group in this month.
Last week it sold nearly 20 lakh shares of TCS to raise about Rs 400 crore.
In a stock exchange filing last month the group said it would reduce the outstanding debt in listed firm Sterling and Wilson Solar by Rs 1,000 crore by December 31, 2019.
The group has paid Rs 250 crore to Sterling and Wilson and the remaining Rs 750 crore will have to be paid by December end.
The TCS share sale is part of the group’s asset monetisation plan to pare its Rs 30,000-crore debt.
While confirming the sale, a spokesperson of the group said, “Shapoorji Pallonji Group sold some shares of TCS today (Thursday) with a view to strengthen the balance sheet”.
Shares of TCS declined 1.2 per cent to Rs 2,017 while SP Group firm Sterling and Wilson Solar gained 3.19 per cent to Rs 286.30 on Thursday.
Last month SP Group failed to honour their commitments made during the initial public offering (IPO) of Sterling and Wilson Solar in August and sought more time from the company’s board to repay loans worth Rs 2,341 crore citing unforeseen reasons including a liquidity crisis at the group level.
Two private companies of SP Group held 73.45 lakh TCS shares obtained through the 18.38 per cent holding in Tata Sons.
ICRA recently downgraded the long-term rating of Shapoorji Pallonji and Company to ‘A+’, from ‘AA-’, and short-term ratings to ‘A1’ from ‘A1+’, citing slower-than-anticipated progress achieved by the company in terms of its deleveraging plans through equity infusion and asset monetisation.
