Cashing in on the bad times, Mallya style

One could learn a lesson or two from Viajy Mallya on how to rake in a quick buck during the most difficult times.

The King of Good Times made a profit of Rs 55 crore by selling his stake in United Breweries Holdings Ltd, even as the operations of his troubled Kingfisher Airlines had to be halted for want of funds, a report in the Business Standard says.

The share prices of United Breweries Holdings had a dream run on the exchanges during the period from June to September, the report says.

[caption id=“attachment_510918” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The share prices of United Breweries Holdings had a dream run on the exchanges during the period from June to September. AFP[/caption]

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During the quarter, promoter holding in the company declined from 51.05 percent to 43.09 percent, according to the report.

The stock, which was trading around Rs 53 during June, rose to around Rs 155 by Septmber, when Mallya and his companies, expecially Kingfisher Arilines, United Spirits and United Breweries, hogged the media limelight.

Kingfisher witnessed a long agitation as its staff demanded all pending salary dues.

There were also news that Mallya is likely to sell a stake in United Spirits to Diageo.

The news pushed up the share prices of all these companies, as investors speculated that fund flow from this deal may end at least the immediate troubles of the group.

The fall in promoter holding shows that actually the fund inflow happened–not from the deal but from the deal news.

Interestingly, the reduction of the stake happened even as the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India is probing whether there has been any insider trading during the period.