ICICIdirect research says that with stock prices having fallen significantly over the past few months, several firms that have pledged their shares would have to top up the margin requirements, failing which lenders could sell the shares leading to a further drop in prices

The significant erosion in the value of shares in the market fall over the past few months, will require promoters who have pledged shares for loans to increase the quantum of pledged shares to maintain the margin requirement, according to a research report by ICICIdirect.com.

The Sensex has corrected by more than 10% over the past few months and the value of shares of most companies has fallen. The research report suggests that in the event that promoters default in fulfilling the margin requirements, this could result in the sale of pledged shares by the lenders and could cause a further decline in the share prices and promoters’ holdings. This in turn could pull the market further downward.

ICICIdirect estimates that on an average 8%-9% of the promoters’ shares has been pledged during the period March 2009 to March 2011.

Most promoters pledge shares to raise working capital or to bring in new investors. This is a method of taking a loan against shares, where the value of the promoters shares pledged is two to three times of the loan amount sought.
As for the lenders, if the company’s share price goes below a certain level, the company will have to make immediate payment in cash or pledge more shares. If the company cannot do this, the lenders will sell the shares to recover the money.

This may appear beneficial to both promoters and lenders, as the promoters have an easy way to raise capital and the lenders have the right to sell the shares, whose value is about twice the loan amount if the promoter defaults or if the value of the pledged shares fall.

Though promoters pledge shares on a regular basis, this may not be a very good sign. This implies that the company’s financials are weak as it is cash-strapped for even working capital and the only way it can raise money is through pledging its shares. Consequently, the share price of a company usually falls after the announcement of shares being pledged.

An example is Malwa Cotton which has increased the quantum of shares pledged by 44% from the December 2010 quarter to the March 2011 quarter, while the company’s share price has dropped by 27% from Rs51.85 on 31 December 2010 to Rs38 on 24 May 2011.

Royale Manor is another company that has increased the number of shares pledged by 39% in the last quarter-on-quarter period, while the company’s share price has lost 25% in five months. (See table, 'Shares Stumble'.)


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