Nearly a dozen institutional investors woke up on Monday to calls from Deutsche Bank offering 32.6 million shares of Infosys, India’s second largest information technology (IT) services company, at a base price of Rs 1,988 apiece, market sources said. The shares were being offered by the company’s promoters N R Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, K Dinesh and S D Shibulal, along with their families. The four and their families own 124 million shares in the company and had offered to sell 25% of their holding. While the price offered for the shares was at a 4% discount from Friday’s closing price of Rs 2,069.70 per share, market sources said that the shares were sold at a premium over the base price and the average sale price could be around Rs 2,015 apiece. The total worth of founders’ stake that was offered for sale is around $1.1 billion. “According to our sources, the book is already closed,” Mumbai-based brokerage firm Prabhudas Lilladher said in a note. While the share sale triggered speculation over why the founders were selling shares with such urgency, sources said, the promoters did so for personal and philanthropic reasons. Infosys’ investor relations officer told analysts that the company would not comment on the matter as it is a family affair of the promoters, none of whom are actively involved in the company’s business any more. A company spokesperson was unavailable for comment. “We continue to see Infosys as one of flag bearers of corporate governance in India. The families are not involved in the day-today operations of Infosys. However, any negative unfolding of financial event could be mere coincidental,” Prabhudas Lilladher said. The stock exchanges will release information on the price of sale and the names of buyers later in the day.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 05:38:56 +0000