Rupee robust; gilts move up
Mumbai: The rupee closed stronger by around four paise on Friday at Rs 45.93-94 per dollar, as against Thursday's close at Rs 45.9750-9850. The domestic currency opened the day at Rs 45.93-94. Dealers said the sentiment had perked up after the RBI's assurances about managing the RIB redemptions without much impact on the financial markets.

"There were some apprehensions but no widespread panic. Some import cover took place over the past couple of days, but that was genuine and expected during the month-end. There is no mad rush to cover," a dealer with a private sector bank was quoted as saying. Forward premia eased by around 7-10 basis points, with the six-month premium ending at 1.13 per cent (1.22 per cent) and the one-year premium ending at 1.22 per cent (1.29 per cent). Bond prices also regained some lost ground.
Back to News Review index page  

UCO Bank IPO share allotment process starts
Kolkata: UCO Bank will shortly finalise allotment of shares following the recent IPO. The bank, informed sources were quoted as saying, will not like to hold on to nearly Rs 4,000 crore of floating funds even though it is permitted to do so for a full month. The issue was oversubscribed 17.5 times, collecting a whopping Rs 4,200 crore, the highest ever subscription in a bank issue. The former record was Rs 4,040 crore for the Corporation Bank IPO, the sources said.

UCO's issue size was Rs 240 crore. The net public offer was oversubscribed more than 19 times. As many as 10,53,000 applications were received. The number of applications was higher only in the case of two other banks, namely, Oriental Bank of Commerce and SBI. The retail and corporate sectors accounted for 90 per cent of the UCO issue while banks, insurance companies, FIs and MFs together accounted for the balance 10 per cent. Over-subscription by the employees was 1.3 times.
Back to News Review index page  

Natco promoters sell 7 lakh shares in 15 days
Hyderabad: The promoters of Natco Pharma have sold 7.02 lakh equity shares of the company through market and off-market deals in the past 15 days. Informing the bourses, the company said the promoters will use the proceeds to convert 60 lakh share warrants, issued to them on 30 April 2002 into equity at Rs 12.50 a share on or before 30 October 2003. Though the company did not disclose the price at which promoters sold their shares, the scrip is trading above Rs 100 in the recent past.

After the conversion of warrants, the promoters' stake in the enhanced paid-up capital of Rs 23.38 crore will go up to 71.19 per cent from that of 61.25 per cent as on today. "The warrants were earlier issued to the promoters as per Sebi guidelines to meet the conditions of debt restructuring package approved by the IDBI in 2002. The warrant conversion price was fixed based on the market price of Natco share at that time. The share sale proceeds are being infused into company by the promoters by converting the warrants," a senior executive of the company said.
Back to News Review index page  

UTI offloads 2.94% in Aurobindo Pharma
Hyderabad: At a time when the promoters of Aurobindo Pharma Ltd (APL) offloading sizeable shares in the market to raise funds for converting their warrants into equity shares, Unit Trust of India (UTI) has sold 6,84,760 shares of APL, constituting 2.94 per cent holding. The move comes at a time when the record date approaching for subdivision of APL shares from the face value of Rs 10 each to two shares of Rs 5 each.

The APL stock closed at Rs 578 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and at Rs 582 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday. It recorded a year high of Rs 650 and a low of Rs 200 on the BSE and Rs 645 and Rs 200 on the NSE. Aurobindo Pharma officials said the company has received information from the administrator of UTI that it has sold company shares in the secondary market from 3 February to 8 September. Following this, the holding of UTI in APL has come down from 12,56,290 shares, amounting 5.4 per cent of the equity, to 5,71,530 shares, representing 2.45 per cent equity.
Back to News Review index page  

ABN Amro rules out buyouts to grow in MF biz
Bangalore: ABN Amro Bank has ruled out any option to buy out existing funds managed by a local asset management company to grow its business in the mutual fund segment where it plans to foray in the last quarter of the current financial year. "There is no perspective on buying," ABN Amro Bank country representative Romesh Sobti was quoted as saying. The bank has said that it is not looking for any portfolio takeouts to boost its retail portfolio. "We have seen steady growth year-on-year," Sobti said.

The bank reported a net profit of Rs 146 crore in the last fiscal over a total business of Rs 10,000 crore. The focus will be on retail and the bank plans to move into private banking and asset management as future boosters. The proposed asset management company, in which ABN Amro will hold 75 per cent stake and resident shareholders would hold the rest, would undertake asset management, portfolio management, investment management and advisory services, investment research and financial consultancy services.
Back to News Review index page