Just a day after Reliance Capital was referred to the NCLT, another ADAG group company, Reliance Power, defaulted on interest payments to DBS Bank and IDBI Bank. The amounts were just about Rs.1 crore. Even Yes Bank has a rather large exposure to Reliance Power. The total outstanding borrowings of Reliance Power stand at Rs.1,194 crore, including accrued interest on loans. Reliance Power has power projects based on coal, gas and renewable energy, with capacity of close to 5,945 MW. Its debt is rated “D”.
In the midst of all the gyrations in price and the spate of price downgrades, it looks like Paytm finally has a buy call. The positive view from Dolat has a price target of Rs.2,500 on Paytm estimating the company to turn profitable by Mar-26. According to Dolat, as Paytm transitions from being a seller of services to a manufacturer, the strong growth in number of users will have an exponential value. Many brokers like Macquarie and JM Financial are still negative on Paytm with target price for the stock closer to Rs.1,200.
Hindustan Unilever has totally eliminated use of coal across operations and substituted it with green alternatives like biomass and biodiesel. HUL has collaborated with biomass suppliers and local farmers to ensure sustainable continuous supply of green fuels. The move will also translate into savings for HUL, so it is going to value accretive too. HUL had already embarked on its zero-coal goal way back in the year 2016 itself. Managing Director, Sanjiv Mehta has underlined the importance of green accountability.
Jet may be just emerging from a near 3 year shutdown, but that has not dulled its appetite for ordering new planes. Currently, Jet is in talks with Boeing and Airbus for a $12 billion order and is looking to buy nearly 100 narrow-bodies aircraft. It may be recollected that after a prolonged bidding war, Jet Airways was finally sold to the Kalrock Jalan consortium based out of UAE. Jet had stopped flying after it ran out of cash in Apr-19. This comes just on the back of Jhunjhunwala’s $9 billion aircraft order for Akasa Air.
Dish TV stock was locked in 5% upper circuit after reports of Bharti Airtel making a bid to buy a majority stake in Dish TV. The combination would give Airtel a 50% market share in the DTH business. However, there has been no affirmation from either parties. Apparently, EY has already submitted the due diligence report on Dish TV financials to Bharti Airtel on 26-October. Currently, Tata Sky is the largest DTH player in the Indian market with 33% market share. Yes Bank holds 25.63% stake in Dish TV by invocation of pledge.
Ola Cabs plans to come out with its IPO in the first half of 2022. Ola is currently in the midst of creating its Super App that will go beyond cab hailing and include personal finance and micro insurance. Incidentally, Ola is backed by Softbank of Japan. India has raised close to Rs.120,000 crore this year via IPOs and the spate of successful digital IPOs have paved the way for Ola. It plans to raise nearly $1 billion or Rs.7,500 crore via IPO route. Ola has mega EV plans with its electric scooters getting up to 1 million reservations.
Despite being backed by the redoubtable Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, the IPO of Star Health & Allied Insurance was subscribed just 79% till the close of bidding. The bidding time for individual investors was extended to 7 pm but that did not make any difference to the end result. Now, Star Health will look to cut the size of its OFS to factor in the tepid response. Out of the total IPO size of Rs.7,249 crore, it only got bids for Rs.6,402 crore, including anchor portion. The deficit of Rs.847 crore will be reduced from the OFS portion.
Indian companies raised $1.34 billion from foreign markets in Oct-21. This is 34% lower on a yoy basis. A predominant $1.32 billion was raised through external commercial borrowings (ECBs) with the balance being raised by Fortum Solar Plus via rupee denominated bonds (RDBs). Among the major borrowers in the ECB category, ONGC borrowed $600 million, Indian Oil $250 million and Renew Solar Urja $147 million. One reason for lower appetite could be that yields have gone up sharply due to Fed hawkishness.