For the month of July 2021, the total inflows into equity funds stood at Rs.22,583 crore, almost twice the peak inflow in the months of March and May this year. The big boost to equity fund inflows was largely driven by Rs.9,808 crore inflow into the ICICI Pru Flexi Cap Fund NFO, which closed in July. Even debt funds saw inflows to the tune of over Rs.73,000 crore while the overall inflows into mutual funds in the month of July stood at Rs.125,981 crore. AUM of mutual funds as of end-July touched a peak of Rs.35.89 trillion.
Banks with large exposures to the beleaguered Vodafone Idea have confirmed that conversion of debt of the into equity shares could be an option to emerge out of the crisis. This was a suggestion that SBI had given to the DOT regarding the AGR dues of nearly Rs.50,000 crore still payable by Vodafone. However, banks have affirmed that they could not take any action as there was no debt default by VIL as of date. Total bank exposure in the form of loans and spectrum fee guarantees to VIL stands at Rs.180.000 crore.
Securities Appellate Tribunal has issued a split order in the PNB Housing versus SEBI case with regard to the Carlyle deal. The split verdict means that PNB Housing has to approach Supreme Court if it wants to proceed with the transaction. The SAT Bench has raised questions about locus standi of SEBI to stop the voting at EGM. However, the bench also held that the issue of notification by SEBI was correct and EGM vote cannot go ahead unless valuation report is obtained as per AOA. The SEBI verdict stands as of now.
Akasa Airlines, the airline project funded by Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, will rely on veterans from Jet Airways to form its top brass. Akasa has just received its NOC from the Civil Aviation Ministry. Akasa has named
Bhavin Joshi as SVP – finance and leasing, Anand Srinivasan as CIO. Praveen Iyer has CCO, Belson Coutinho as Head of Marketing, Adam Voss as Head of Engineering and Capt. Floyd Gracious as Head of Operations for Akasa Airlines. Former Jet veteran Vinay Dubey and former Indigo boss Aditya Ghosh will run the show.
Bajaj group companies bought shares of Mukand worth over Rs.353 crore via open market transactions. While Bajaj Sevashram purchased shares worth Rs.94.42 crore, Bachhraj and Company bought shares of Mukand worth Rs.159.27 crore. In addition, Bachhraj Factories and Sanraj Nayan Investments also infused Rs.69.04 crore and Rs.30.87 crore respectively via block deals. The average price of the purchase was Rs.153 per share. However, this looks like an internal transfer as certain promoters had also offloaded.
Aptus Value Housing Finance raised Rs.834 crore from anchor investors, a day ahead of its IPO opening on 10 August. Aptus will allocate 23.63 million shares to anchor investors at Rs.353 per share, pegging the transaction value at Rs.834 crore. Some of the anchor names include WF Asian Fund, Neuberger Berman, Aberdeen, Steadview, Copthall Mauritius, SmallCap World Fund, Nomura, Axis Mutual Fund etc. Aptus funds homes in rural and semi-urban areas and caters to people in the lower and middle income groups.
Sapphire Foods Mauritius, promoted by Samara Capital, secured a strategic investment into its flagship QSR company, Sapphire Foods India from a consortium of PE funds led by Creador, NewQuest Capital and TR Capital. The new investors infused Rs.1,150 crore with Avendus advising Sapphire Foods and UBS acting as agents of Samara Capital. Sapphire Foods is an omnichannel restaurant operator and is the largest franchisee of YUM Brands in India, with 437 restaurants of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in South Asia.
MRF Ltd, one of India’s premier tyre manufacturers, reported a 10-fold spike in standalone net profits at Rs.161 crore. The profit growth was driven by a 70% surge in sales revenues at Rs.4,128 crore while the other income doubled to Rs.92 crore. Even on consolidated basis, net profits were up over 12-fold at Rs.166 crore while revenues nearly doubled to Rs.4,184 crore. MRF fully redeemed NCDs worth Rs.180 crore during the quarter. MRF has benefited from a sharp gain in auto demand driving demand for tyres.