HDFC Bank opposes SBI's plea to liquidate 6.6 million USL shares

A day after the SBI-led bankers consortium raised Rs 1,008 crore by selling 7.4 million pledged shares of United Breweries, their bid to recover more money by liquidating shares of United Spirits faced opposition from HDFC Bank which moved the special PMLA court here against it.

The special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court did not take up the petition and fixed April 2 for the next date of hearing.

At Thursday's closing price of Rs 532.20 on the BSE, these 6.6 million shares could fetch the banks over Rs 350 crore.

Banks are seeking court permission to liquidate 65.85 lakh shares of United Spirits which were pledged by two Vijay Mallya companies -- United Breweries Holdings (UBHL) and Kingfisher Finvest, the holding company of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines -- as collateral for loans from HDFC Bank.

The banks are trying to part-recover the Rs 6,203.35 crore of dues along with annualized interest of 11.5 per cent payable since 2013, by liquidating the confiscated assets