According to a recent survey conducted by BOFA Securities, 18% of global fund managers are overweight on Indian equities. Only Japan and Taiwan have a higher share of overweight in the Asia Pacific region. Thailand, Indonesia, and Australia are the three market where the global investors are largely below the weights. The surveyed fund managers manage close to $642 billion in assets. The net is largely on the back of expected rate cuts, which are likely to make equity stocks more attractive from a P/E valuation perspective.
Mahindra & Mahindra has firmed up investment plans of Rs37,000 crore as it readies to launch a record number of 9 sports utility vehicles (SUVs) in India. While these 9 would be IC engine SUVs, it is also, at the same time, launching another 7 Born Electric Vehicles (BEVs). Out of the Rs37,000 crore of investment planned, Rs27,000 crore will be for the auto business while, the balance Rs10,000 crore will be equally allocated between the farm business and services business. BEVs will roll out from first quarter of 2025.
Vodafone Idea reported 19.5% wider net loss of Rs7,674 crore for the March quarter, The losses were also higher on a sequential basis. It may be recollected that Vodafone Idea had recently raised Rs18,000 crore through an FPO. Its finance cost increased by 25.5% at Rs6,280 crore. For the full fiscal year FY24, the net loss stood at Rs31,238 crore. Its average revenue per user (ARPU) has gone up marginally to Rs146, but still remains well short of Bharti Airtel, which had managed to achieve nearly Rs210 of ARPU in Q4FY24.
One of the world’ largest pension fund managers, Norges Bank, has decided to cut off Adani Ports SEZ from its tracking list. It was based on the recommendations of its Ethics Council. It is not clear if it has anything to do with the corporate governance issues raised by the recent SEBI investigations, or whether it has to do with the fact that Adani Ports SEZ manages the Haifa Port in Israel. The West has been averse to any company with key exposure to Israel, over human rights violations after sustained attacks on Gaza.
Enfinity Global has entered into arrangement to finance up to $135 million for 1.2 GW of solar and wind projects in India. The financing will be routed through the Canadian Pension Fund, which is already one of the biggest FPI investors in India. The projects in their portfolio would comprise a portfolio across 5 key staters viz., Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. Once interconnected, they will generated close to 2.4 GW of power, enough to power 2 million households. It is step to fossil greening.
Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea have deposited a total sum of Rs4,350 crore towards the spectrum auction. Jio alone accounted for Rs3,000 crore out of this sum. The government has accounted a modest auction valuation of Rs96,318 crore. The spectrum auctions will begin on June 06, 2024. This will be much smaller than the 2022 auction bids, which generated revenues of Rs1.50 trillion. Bharti Airtel has already stated that it would not need additional spectrum for now, except for the renewal spectrum.
Brookefield India REIT will buy 50% assets in four of Bharti realty assets. Now, Brookefield owns Rostrum Realty, which owns the four Grade office assets of Bharti. The overall acquisition includes commercial property totalling 3.30 million SFT. Post the acquisition, Bharti has an 8.53% stake in BIRET. The assets will include 1.40 million SFT of Worldmark Assets at Aerocity New Delhi, 7 lakh SFT at Airtel Centre Gurugram, and Worldmark Gurugram, a mixed use asset spanning 7 lakh SFT. All these assets have a strong tenancy.
The minority shareholders have sought a SEBI exemption letter for ICICI Bank, amidst protests over the swap ratio offered by ICICI Bank to delist ICICI Securities. The exemption letter is supposed to offer insight into the arguments put forth by the bank to delist at such valuations. According to minority shareholder, Quantum MF, the deal is skewed in favour of ICICI Bank at the cost of I-Sec shareholders. Minority holders have already filed a class action suit at the NCLT Delhi. I-Sec shareholders will get 67 shares for 100 shares.