IL&FS Investsmart lines up Rs.40-50 crore expansion program
Mumbai: Stock broking and financial services firm IL&FS Investsmart will invest Rs40-50 crore in an expansion program this fiscal. The financial services firm will spend the money in expanding its branch network, setting up operations in Far East and getting a membership with the Dubai Gold Exchange.

The company also hopes to set up five separate wholly-owned subsidiaries for securities broking, commodities trading, insurance broking, insurance trading and NBFC businesses by this month-end said Hemang Raja, managing director and CEO of IL&FS Investsmart. He said IL&FS Investsmart would become the holding company of the five subsidiaries.

The Indian company has formed IL&FS Investsmart Asia Pacific Singapore to tap the opportunities in that region. The company is awaiting regulatory approvals from the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Securities and Exchange Board of India. IL&FS Investsmart, which has also applied for DGX membership, also has ambitious plans to open offices in London and the US at a later stage.
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IL&FS Investment board approves 1:2 bonus
Mumbai: IL&FS Investment Managers have approved an issue of bonus shares in the ratio of one share for every two held, besides giving a go-ahead to the company to raise $60 million from international markets through issue of shares.

The company has also decided to hike the FII shareholding limit to 74 per cent. The shareholders authorised the company to increase the authorised share capital from Rs30 crore to Rs50 crore. The share prices of the company, the realty subsidiary of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services, ended lower by 1.62 per cent at Rs203.70 from the previous close of Rs207.05.
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MFs focus on mid & small-cap cos
Kolkata: A number of mutual funds are known to have bought and sold sizeable quantities of shares in mid- and small-cap companies recently.

For instance HDFC MF acquired and disposed of shares of CMC through schemes such as HDFC Equity Fund, HDFC Core & Satellite Fund, HDFC Monthly Income Plan and HDFC Multiple Yield Fund. HDFC Equity bought 5.3 lakh shares — amounting to 3.55 per cent of CMC's paid-up capital — over a number of days. The mode of acquisition was through market purchase. The fund's shareholding in the company after the acquisition is 6.85 per cent. Smaller deals have been made by a few of the other funds in the HDFC MF stable.

HDFC MF's holding in KEC International through various schemes decreased by over 2 per cent. Among these is HDFC Premier Multi-Cap Fund, which had 5.57 lakh shares, aggregating to 1.48 per cent of the company as on April 21. Also, HDFC Core & Satellite Fund held 4.67 lakh shares amounting to 1.24 per cent of the company on that date.

Indo Tech Transformers Ltd has informed the exchange that Prudential ICICI MF has through three separate funds acquired 1.19 lakh shares, involving 1.12 per cent of its paid-up base. The funds are Pru ICICI Balanced, Pru ICICI Emerging STAR and Pru ICICI Tax Plan. The mode of acquisition is the secondary market. The total holding by the fund house in the company is a high 5.47 per cent.

Pru ICICI MF has, through Pru ICICI Fusion Fund, taken over a lakh shares (1.1 per cent) of the paid-up capital of Kewal Kiran Clothing Ltd. HSBC Equity Fund has sold 6.32 lakh shares, aggregating 5.7 per cent of Jindal South West Holdings Ltd (as on April 25). The sale has been conducted through the secondary market.
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AstraZeneca to go for stock split
Bangalore: AstraZeneca Pharma India is planning a stock split the company informed the stock exchange. The pharma MNC's scrip closed at just over Rs4,570 on Wednesday. A month ago, it was trading at Rs3,225 and touched Rs 3,868 a week ago.

Swedish parent Astra Pharma AB holds 90 per cent of the shares and Indian public holds 8.56 per cent or 4.27 lakh shares. Banks, FIs, NRIs, OCBs and others hold the rest. The company ended fiscal 2005 with a turnover of Rs 225 crore.
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JRG Sec issue subscribed 4.47 times
Kochi: JRG Securities public issue of 36.25 lakh equity shares with a face value of Rs10 and premium of Rs30, was subscribed 4.47 times. The company released the issue to mobilise Rs14.50 crore for the up-gradation of the existing IT infrastructure, establishment of 30 new regional offices and for overseas expansion said company officials.
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GMR Infra to float IPO
New Delhi: The Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure has filed a red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for an initial public offering (IPO).

While company officials were tight-lipped about the IPO size, industry analysts estimate that it is expected to be in the range of Rs800-1,000 crore.

Sources indicated that the monies garnered from the IPO would be used to finance capital projects including construction of roads and to undertake the modernisation of the New Delhi airport.

A consortium headed by GMR that includes Fraport, the operator of Frankfurt airport, and Malaysian Airport, has been selected by the Government to take up modernisation of the Delhi airport.
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