Aditya Birla Capital has approved the IPO of its AMC business, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC. This will be the third AMC to list after HDFC AMC, Nippon AMC and UTI AMC. A total of 3.88 crore shares, representing 13.5% of the paid-up capital of the AMC will be offered via an offer for sale. While Aditya Birla Capita will sell 28.5 lakh shares, Sun Life will sell 3.6 crore shares. Aditya Birla AMC is already the fourth largest AMC in India in terms of AUM at Rs.2.8 trillion and ranks next only to SBI MF, HDFC MF and ICICI Pru MF.
Infosys reported growth in revenues and net profits for the fourth quarter ended Mar-21 even through the profits were slightly lower on a sequential basis. Digital revenues accounted for 51.5% of sales compared to 41% last year. Infosys also announced a buyback of Rs.9,200 crore at a maximum buyback price of Rs.1,750. This represents a 25% premium to the last traded price. For FY22, Infosys expects revenue growth of 12-14% and operating margins in the range of 22-24%. Attrition was higher in Q4.
Government of India will divest 20% stake in National Fertilizers as well as a 10% stake in RCF via the OFS route. GOI currently holds 75.71% in NFL and 75% in RCF. As of now only the EOI is invited by 05 May after which the OFS process will start. The government will hive off 20% of its stake in NFL. Apart from these share sales, DIPAM has also sought to monetize flats and apartments of Hindustan Cables located in Kolkata and Allahabad. It will also monetize the land of BEML in Mumbai, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.
The rally in technology shares has taken the number of people with fortunes of more than $100 billion to eight. While Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google joined the club, the usual A-listers like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are already there in the tech list. The only investment manager who finds a place in the list is Warren Buffett and the only non-American to find his way into that list is Bernard Arnault of LVMH, the European fashion house. These 8 wealthiest added over $120 billion this year.
Bharti Airtel announced a new corporate structure to sharpen its digital focus. As part of the new deal, Airtel Digital will fold into Bharti Airtel. Airtel Digital houses high value and high potential properties like Wynk Music, Airtel X stream, Airtel Thanks, Mitra Payments, Airtel Ads, Airtel IQ, Airtel Secure, Airtel Cloud as well as other digital products that may get added in the future. In the restructuring, telecom business will be housed in Airtel Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of Bharti Airtel. Eventually DTH will also move into Airtel.
Fund raising via NCDs fell 29% to Rs.10,587 crore in FY21. This was largely on the back of weak credit ratings as well as elevated risk of default in the light of the second lockdown. However, bond markets are a lot more optimistic about the NCD route in FY22 as growth once again picks up momentum. Also, the blue chips NCDs have been getting a good response as was evident in the Muthoot NCD offering. There are names like DLF, Piramal, Edelweiss and IIFL lining up NCD issuances to make the best of the revival.
Fintech start-up Credflow raised $2.1 million as part of its seed funding process. Credflow offers cash flow management solutions for SMEs. This round of seed financing is being led by Stellaris Venture Partners, Omidyar Network and Flourish Ventures. Credflow will invest to develop its platform, strengthen its technological capabilities and build new products to expand its customer base. Cash flow management is a SaaS based offering to cut working capital cycles. Fintechs have started becoming Unicorns in India.
Apollo Tyres announced a foray into the truck and bus tyre segment in the United States and Canada. This will expand Apollo’s presence in North America. Apollo Tyres will manufacture the American range of truck and bus tyres at its manufacturing units in Hungary and Chennai. The tyres will encompass a full range of regional, super-regional, coach and mixed-use applications. Other players like Bharat Forge and Motherson have been in the North American market for a long time. This is likely to be value accretive.
