Kajaria Ceramics boosts FII stake; to issue 2 million shares to WestBridge

Ceramic tiles maker Kajaria Ceramics Ltd on Tuesday said its board has approved the issue of 2 million shares to WestBridge Crossover Fund LLC, at Rs250 per share, even as the Reserve Bank of India last week said the FII limit in the company has reached the 24 per cent trigger.

Any single investment in a listed company beyond 25 per cent of its paid-up equity capital will attract the open offer clause of corporate take-over regulations set by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

In a filing with stock exchanges, the Delhi-based company said it would also issue 3.88 million warrants to WestBridge Crossover Fund, which could be converted to equity shares at a conversion price of Rs257.37 apiece.

Kajaria Ceramics had, earlier, proposed to raise foreign institutional investment (FII) limit in the company to 40 per cent of the total paid-up equity.

Another foreign fund house, Swiss Finance Corporation (Mauritius) Ltd, had last month picked up more than nine lakh shares of Kajaria Ceramics for an estimated Rs 23 crore.

According to information available with the stock exchanges, Swiss Finance Corporation bought 9,12,662 scrips of Kajaria Ceramics through the open market route.

According to the latest disclosures on the shareholding pattern of Kajaria Ceramics, HSBC Bank (Mauritius) Ltd through Jwalamukhi Investment Holdings holds 7.85 per cent, GMO Domestic Opportunities Fund 2.04 per cent and Citi Group Global Markets, Mauritius 2.03 per cent in the company while the promoters hold 53.1 per cent.

WestBridge Capital has invested in companies such as Idea Cellular, Cognizant, Just Dial, Café Coffee Day and Manappuram Finance.

''We currently manage over $800 million across multiple funds. The typical equity investment through our funds ranges between $10-50 million, resulting in a substantial minority equity ownership,'' WestBridge says in its web site.

FII holding in Kajaria Ceramics has gone up to 18.41 per cent in the April-June quarter of the current financial year, up from 15.64 per cent in the January-March quarter.