McDowell pledged stake in UBL decline by 3.02 per cent

McDowell Holdings', promoter firm pledged stake in United Breweries Ltd (UBL) has come down to 3.02 per cent, after lender Yes Bank invoked the pledge on part of the shares encumbered with it, reported PTI.

Yes Bank sold 4.15 lakh shares or 0.157 per cent stake of UBL, India's largest brewer that makes Kingfisher beer for Rs 39.48 crore through an open market transaction on Friday.

These shares were purchased by Heineken International BV, the maker of Heineken beer which already holds a significant stake in UBL.

Earlier to this transaction, McDowell's holdings encumbered with the lender stood at 3.18 per cent. Yes Bank has invoked the stake "to secure loans given to group companies."

For all promoters put together, including McDowell, over 15 per cent stake is pledged with various financial institutions. Heineken is the largest shareholder of United Breweries with 42.22 per cent stake.

State Bank of India (SBI) earlier had declared Vijay Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines and its holding company United Breweries Holdings, as wilful defaulters for defaults on nearly Rs 7,000-crore loans to the long-grounded carrier.

Meanwhile, the 17 lenders to the airline had said they will e-auction the assets of the grounded airline, in their latest bid to part recover their dues of around Rs 7,000 crore and accrued interest on the principal that has not been serviced since January 2013.

The airline, owned by Mallya, had taken Rs 6,900 crore from a consortium of 17 lenders, led by SBI, in early 2010 after a second debt restructuring for the airline.