Reliance raises $577 million through stock sale to LIC
04 Jan 2010
Reliance Industries raised Rs2,675 crore ($577 million) through sale of 25.8 million treasury stocks to state-run Life Insurance Corporation in the open market.
This is the second big equity fund raising in under four months for the company as it looks to buy Lyondell Basell, the Luxembourg-based bankrupt petrochemicals firm.
The Mukesh Ambani-led firm sold 25 million existing treasury shares at a 5 per cent discount to Thursday's market close to the public sector insurer, according to two sources in the know of the transaction.
The conglomerate had offloaded $660 million worth of shares in September.
According to analysts, both deals form part of energy major Reliance's bid to gain control of the petrochemical firm and are estimated to be worth as much as $12 billion.
Analysts say Reliance's major objective is to emerge as a leading global player in petrochemicals and the funds could be used to make a war chest for global acquisitions.