Kingfisher: HNIs, FIIs hike stake in airline

Overseas investors as well as small individuals and HNIs seem to be on a share buying spree in Kingfisher Airlines, even as questions are being raised about resumption of its operations after the cash-strapped carrier’s licence was suspended.

The Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) have more than doubled their holding to 2.46 percent stake in Vijay Mallya-led UB group’s Kingfisher Airlines, while small individual shareholders hiked their holding significantly to 17.59 percent during the quarter ended September 30.

The HNIs (high-networth individuals) also raised their holding to 13.78 percent from 8.45 percent in June quarter. FII holdings in the airline rose to 2.46 percent in the July-September quarter from 0.98 percent in the previous three months, as per stock exchanges data.

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The holding of small investors (defined as those holding up to Rs one lakh worth shares in a company) has grown by 3.81 percentage points, while that of HNIs (individuals with shares worth over Rs one lakh) has risen by 4.59 percentage points.

Besides, the latest shareholding data of Kingfisher shows that the numbers of small individual and HNI shareholders have increased considerably during this time.

On the other hand, the total promoter holding has dipped to 35.83 percent from 35.86 percent in June quarter.

The promoters have pledged over 90 percent of their shares with various lenders, leaving them with a non- encumbered stake of just 3.55 percent. The shareholding of institutional investors (insurance, banks and financial institutions) has also come down in the recent quarters and fell to 15.60 percent, from 14.18 percent as on June 30, 2012.

The stake of domestic institutional investors slipped marginally to 13.14 percent in September quarter from 13.20 percent in the preceding three months. The operations of Kingfisher remains disrupted since September 30, first due to a strike by its engineers and pilots, then the lockout declared by the management.

This was followed by suspension of its flying permit by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) last week after the carrier failed to produce a plan on how it would revive its operations. Its shares hit an all-time low of Rs 7.01 in August and is currently trading at around Rs 11. About a year ago, it was trading over Rs 31 level.

Besides, shares have dived more than 30 percent since Kingfisher has been grounded. The total number of HNI shareholders currently stand at 2,05,781-as against 1,79,325 as on June 30 2012 and the number of small individual investor were 3,072 as compared to 1,961 during the same period.

PTI