LIC bought 50 per cent of shares divested in Hindustan Copper

08 Jan 2013

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) had bought 22.5 million shares of state-run Hindustan Copper Ltd, about 50 per cent of the stake divested by the government during the November sale through the stock exchange.

LIC bought the 22.5 million shares during the quarter ended December 2012, according to stock exchange data. This makes the state-run insurer the only company holding more than one per cent stake in Hindustan Copper.

LIC along with five other insurance companies now holds 27.2 million shares of Hindustan Copper, with LIC alone holding 22.5 million shares, according to the latest shareholding data available with the exchanges.

This is nearly 10 times compared to the September figure when the total holding of insurance companies in Hindustan Copper stood at a mere 2.8 lakh shares.

Financial institutions are also reported to have increased stake in Hindustan Copper from 0.03 per cent to 0.87 per cent. They now hold about 8.09 million shares, against a mere 47,553 shares in the July-September quarter.

Hindustan Copper shares plummeted 20 per cent after the discounted stake sale, as last-minute big buys pushed Hind Copper stake-sale through.