Infosys announces buyback at Rs1,150

A day after Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka's dramatic exit, Infosys has announced a Rs13,000-crore share buyback of upto 11.3 crore shares at Rs 1,150 apiece.

The offer size of the buyback amounts to 20.51 per cent of Infosys' paid-up equity capital and free reserves and will comprise purchasing of up to 4.92 per cent of the paid-up equity.

The buyback decision was taken at the company's board meeting on Saturday.

The buyback price is at a premium of 17.73 per cent and 17.92 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange and NSE, respectively, over the closing price of August 16, 2017. This was the date of intimation to the exchanges, the company said in a statement.

The record date for buyback will be decided later, the company added.

The company's board also formed a seven member buyback committee to oversee the process.

The committee comprises co-chairman Ravi Venkatesan, executive vice-chairman Vishal Sikka, interim CEO and MD UB Pravin Rao and MD Ranganath among others.

As of 30 June 2017, Infosys had liquid assets (cash and short term investments) of over Rs39,000 crore.

Indian IT majors, sitting on cash piles, have bought back shares worth Rs19,500 crore from the open market during the first half of calendar year 2017. This is the largest buyback in the last 10 years.

India's largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies led the pack with domestic IT majors buying back 6.68 crore shares between 1 January and 30 June 2017, reveals data available on stock exchanges.

TCS bought back Rs16,000 crore worth shares and HCL Tech worth Rs3,500 crore, while Wipro did not buy back any shares in 2017. Earlier in April, Infosys said it will pay up to Rs13,000 crore to shareholders in this fiscal through dividend or share buyback or a combination of the two.