Year 2021 has been a bumper year for IPOs. Out of 10 IPOs listed in 2021, 8 of these 10 IPOs listed at a premium. Out of these 8 gainers, MTAR Technologies, Indigo Paints, Nureca and Heranba Industries opened with listing gains of over 40%. While Antony Waste listed at par, IRFC was the only IPO to list at a discount in 2021. The star listing was MTAR Technologies, which listed at a premium of 84% followed by Indigo Paints listing at a premium of 75%. In 2021, a total of 13 companies raised over Rs.16,000 crore via IPOs as compared to Rs.31,000 crore in the whole of 2020. There are 5 more listings slated in March.
Templeton MF confirmed that the 6 shut schemes collected Rs.15,272 crore from maturities, coupons and pre-payments since it shut redemptions in April 2020. It may be recollected that on 23-April 2020, the fund shut down 6 schemes owing to redemption pressures and lack of liquidity in the bond market. The 6 funds between them had an AUM of Rs.25,000 crore between them. As of March 2021, only five schemes are cash positive and the sixth scheme is still cash-negative. The court appointed SBI Funds Management as the official liquidator of the 6 Templeton schemes and it is currently in the process of liquidating the assets and distributing proceeds to unitholders. Of course, there are also simultaneous investigations being conducted by the ED under PMLA. Cash available in the troubled schemes stands at Rs.1370 crore.
BHEL emerged as the lowest bidder for supplying equipment for the 6×700 MW power projects of Nuclear Power Corporation of India or NPCIL. BHEL had bid Rs.10,800 crore for the fleet mode tender floated by NPCIL for the 6×700 MW Turbine Island Package Projects. These Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors or PHWR are the key to the Nuclear Power Programme. Currently, 12 out of 18 PHWRs of NPCIL are equipped by BHEL, with the balance being from abroad. BHEL had supplied turbines for Kaiga Unit-1 which had created world record of uninterrupted operation for 962 days. This is part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat project.
Vedanta may have failed in its earlier delisting attempt at the price of Rs.87.50, but it is back with another delisting attempt at Rs.235 per share. Vedanta Resources wants to buy 17.51% stakes in Vedanta Ltd at Rs.235 a share. When LIC had rejected the last offer, it had suggested a delisting price of Rs.320 per share. At the peak of the commodity cycle, Vedanta was trading closer to Rs.300. However, Vedanta is now in a sweet spot with aluminium and zinc prices up nearly 30% since September, Chinese demand more robust and low inventory levels across the world. The delisting will entail a cost of Rs.15,200 crore for Vedanta.
If it happens, it could be an unprecedented step. PSU refiners plan to cut oil imports from Saudi Arabia by 25% in May-21. Saudi Arabia had ignored India’s call to boost OPEC supplies and control the crude price rally. This is also part of the government’s move to reduce dependence on Middle East crude. State owned refiners control 60% of India’s 5 million bpd refining capacity and import nearly 14.8 million barrels of Saudi oil in a month. Currently, India is the world’s third largest oil importer and consumer and still relies on oil imports for 80% of its oil needs. OPEC plus Russia had recently decided to extend cuts into April.
According to a recent survey by Hurun India, stocks will continue to be the favoured asset class for HNIs and ultra HNIs in India, while real estate will no longer be the preferred asset class. The survey estimated 412,000 dollar-millionaire households in India, with 23,000 families having a net worth in excess of Rs.100 crore. Out of the wealthy respondents surveyed by Hurun, 35% of respondents sought to increase allocation to equities over the next 3 years while 27% planned to cut down real estate allocation. US was still the favoured overseas investment destination for 26.6% of respondents, followed by Singapore at 11.6%, UAE at 10% and the UK at 6.6%. Also, the US, UK and Canada remained the preferred destinations to send children abroad for higher education. AMEX was the preferred credit card followed by HDFC Bank and Citibank.