Sahara Housing Fina Corp, Sahara One stage smart recovery after early losses

Shares of Sahara Housing Fina Corporation and Sahara One Media & Entertainment today staged a smart recovery to end with gains after falling sharply in morning session on Sebi ordering accounts freezing and asset attachment in the Sahara investor refund case.

Sahara Housing Fina, which saw a steep fall of over 19 per cent during the day, recouped the losses and ended 0.18 per cent higher at Rs 54.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Sahara One Media & Entertainment rose by 4.99 per cent to settle at Rs 90.55. Intra-day, the scrip had tanked nearly 5 per cent to Rs 82.10 -- also its 52-week low.

In the broader market, the BSE benchmark Sensex ended 110.90 points lower at 19,497.18.

The stocks had fallen sharply during the day after regulator Sebi last night ordered freezing of bank accounts and attachment of all investments and properties of two Sahara firms and their top executives, including group chief Subrata Roy.

Sahara group has, however, claimed the actions taken by Sebi were based on "old facts" and the orders for attaching assets of individuals was incorrect on part of the market regulator.

The assets being attached include those related to the group's Ambey Valley resort town near Pune, other real estate assets in Delhi, Mumbai and at other places across the country, shares, mutual funds and various other investments.

Passing two separate orders, together running into 160 pages, against Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd (SHICL) and Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd (SIRECL), Sebi has said that the two companies had raised Rs 6,380 crore and Rs 19,400 crore, respectively, from bondholders and "various illegalities" were committed in raising of these funds.

With regard to Subrata Roy and three other directors, namely Vandana Bhargava, Ravi Shanker Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary, Sebi ordered freezing of all bank and demat accounts of these four persons, as also attachment of all movable and immovable properties in their name with immediate effect.