The UB Group offloaded almost its entire holding in Bayer CropScience for Rs 36 crore (Rs 360 million) in three block deals yesterday on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

UB has sold the stake to fund a part of the seed capital required for Kingfisher Airlines, the group's proposed low-cost carrier.

Two entities of the group, UB Global Corp and United Breweries Holdings, have together sold over 1.5 million shares at Rs 245.33 a share against Wednesday's closing price of Rs 248.55 on the BSE.

UB Global sold them in two block deals of 531,000 and 506,000, respectively, while United Breweries Holdings hived off 468,000 shares. The buyer, however, could not be ascertained.

A UB group executive confirmed the sale, adding that the proceeds would be used to part finance the Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) seed capital required for Kingfisher Airlines.

The rest (Rs 24 crore) would be funded from internal accruals, he added. The executive said: "The present capital requirement is being taken care of. There is no need to sell the group's holding in other companies."

The launch of Kingfisher Airlines, however, has been pushed back till April 2005.