WPI inflation for July 2022 came in sharply lower at 13.93%, falling 270 bps from May 2022 high of 16.63%. While inflation in food products, primary articles and manufactured products were lower yoy, the fuel inflation was the only item in the basket to show growth. Even on MOM basis, the fuel inflation was higher by 6.56%. With WPI inflation also falling sharply in response to the RBI hawkishness, the central bank may be in a position to go slow on further hikes in the upcoming MPC meet in October 2022 after 140 bps hike.
Government Investment Corporation (GIC) of Singapore, the state sovereign fund and the Capital Group picked up the entire 26.8% stake in Max Healthcare sold by KKR on 16th August. Kotak and Jefferies have handled the transaction and KKR had announced the deal on Monday itself. The deal was executed at an average price of Rs353 per share and total value of the transaction was Rs9,200 crore or about $1.2 billion. KKR and Radiant were the co-promoters of Max Health since 2018. This is the second tranche sale by KKR.
Go Digit, the general insurer company backed by Fairfax of Canada, filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for the proposed IPO. The IPO size will be Rs5,000 crore out of which the fresh equity issue will be Rs1,250 crore and the balance Rs3,750 crore will be sold via offer for sale (OFS). Promoters will also take partial exit from their holdings in Go Digit. The fresh issue will be used to augment capital and maintain solvency. Go Digit provides health, travel, property, marine, liability and other general
insurance products.
Auto stocks are in the midst of a dream run as evidenced by the BSE Automobile Index rallying 39% from the lows of March. This includes auto and auto ancillary companies. The surge in the auto index has come on the back of momentum in commercial vehicles (CVs), passenger vehicles (PVs) and two-wheeler sales. The entire range of auto related stocks like Escorts Kubota, Apollo Tyres, Bosch, Eicher Motors, MRF and Maruti Suzuki were up in the range of 2% to 10%. Stocks like M&M and TVS Motors also hit all-time highs.
ABRDN Investment Management, formerly Standard Life Investments, divested its 5.58% stake in HDFC AMC for over Rs2,303 crore. ABRDN sold a total of 1.19 crore shares, representing 5.58% in HDFC AMC at a price of Rs1,935.63 per share. The identity of the buyer could not be ascertained. HDFC AMC is a joint venture between HDFC and ABRDN Investment Management. In October 2021, ABRDN Investments had divested 5% stake in HDFC AMC. HDFC AMC had listed on the stock exchanges post its IPO in year 2018.
Concord Biotech, backed by RARE Enterprises, filed DRHP with SEBI for its proposed IPO. It is structured as an offer for sale of (OFS). As per the DRHP, Helix Investment Holdings will offer 2.09 crore equity shares under the OFS. There will also be reservation for subscriptions by employees. Concord is a leading manufacturer of fermentation-based biopharmaceutical APIs. It focuses on immunosuppressants, oncology, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial segments. FY22 sales were Rs722 crore and profits at Rs175 crore.
SBI initiated insolvency proceedings against Bajaj Hindustan Sugar at NCLT over outstanding dues to SBI. Bajaj Hindustan currently owns 14 factories with total capacity to crush 136,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day. Bajaj Hindustan owes Rs4,800 crore to banks including SBI, PNB, Indian Bank and Central Bank of India. Now NCLT Court has to admit the petition. There was a closure order issued against Bajaj Hindustan and that had resulted in heavy loss of sales, production, revenues and profits between FY18 and FY20.
Five investment bankers viz. IIFL Securities, ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, Citigroup and HDFC Bank have been shortlisted by the government for the sale of its residual stake in Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL). The centre will offload its 29.53% stake in HZL in tranches. DIPAM had invited bids for the sale in early July this year. Currently, Vedanta holds 64.92% in HZL, while government holds 29.53%. The remaining 5.5% is with public. This will entail the sale of 124.9 crore shares and fetch the government a sum of Rs36,000 crore.
