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UTI not to dump equities; may sell NPA shares to competitors

Unit Trust of India chairman M Damodaran on Saturday ruled out the possibility of dumping equities in its flagship scheme US-64 as it might have an adverse effect on the market, but threatened to sell non-performing shares to competitor companies at a higher price.

"UTI will not dump the shares it is holding just to achieve that objective (increasing the debt exposure in US-64), but was working out schemes to get maximum returns from both non-performing and performing assets," Damodaran told NRI investors in Dubai.

"One of the factors holding the market down now may be the feeling that UTI may download shares to meet redemptions once it accepts NAV-based listing next month. But we are not going to sell to meet fund demands," he said.

The UTI chief, however, threatened to sell unattractive shares to their competitors at attractive prices.

UTI will offer its stake in companies yielding nothing, to their rivals if these companies themselves did not buy back the shares, he said, adding, "we are concerned only with investors' interests."

Damodaran assured NRI investors in the Gulf that US-64 was firmly on the road to recovery and suggested that investors stay with the fund for better returns.

He told reporters that the US-64, which will be traded on the basis of its net asset value from January 1 2002, was being restructured along with other schemes to reduce the equity exposure and increase debt exposure.

Damodaran also said that UTI will not launch assured-return close-ended schemes though it may have monthly income schemes with variable returns.

He said the UTI board will consider the recommendations of Malegam Committee on restructuring India's largest mutual fund at the end of this month or early next month.

He also clarified that UTI has not yet approached Infosys Technologies with any proposal to convert its entire equity holding in the IT company into American depository receipts for offloading them in the international markets.

Damodaran said there is no proposal to convert its 5.6 per cent holding in the IT major to ADRs and market abroad to realise a higher value.

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