Retail inflation for November touched a 3-month high of 4.91% due to a spike in food prices. However, the CPI inflation remains within the upper limit of 6% prescribed by the RBI for inflation. The inflation was at 4.48% in the month of October. With the Centre and state reducing taxes on petrol and diesel, fuel was lower on a sequential basis. While this figure is better than the 5.10% projected by economists in a Reuters poll, it is still much higher than the median expected rate of inflation. It is likely to impact RBI policy.
Emcure Pharma, backed by Bain Capital, got SEBI approval for its proposed IPO. The IPO will comprise of a fresh issue of Rs.1,100 crore and OFS of 181.68 lakh shares by promoters and early investors. Emcure is evaluating a pre-IPO placement of Rs.200 crore, in which case the IPO size will be cut proportionately. Emcure Pharma develops, manufactures and globally markets a broad range of pharmaceutical products with presence in 70 markets globally. Emcure Pharma is currently developing RNA vaccine for COVID-19.
Data Patterns India, solution provider to defence and aerospace sector, garnered Rs.176.46 crore from 23 anchor investors a day before the opening of its IPO. The IPO of Data Patterns will be open from 14-Dec to 16-Dec. It will allocate 30,16,533 shares to anchor investors at the upper price band of Rs.585. Some of the key anchor investors included Axis MF, Ashoka India Fund, HDFC MF, ICICI Prudential MF, Nippon Life AMC, Kotak Mutual, IIFL Focused Equity Fund, Tata Mutual Fund, HDFC Life, Volrado Venture and Nomura.
Apple may already be the most valuable stock in the world by a margin, but it continues to create value. For example, Apple stock price is just $2 short of the Apple market cap crossing $3 trillion for the first time. Apple stock has rallied nearly 11% in the last four sessions. The stock has been robust this year after the stellar response to its latest iPhone model. Currently, Apple and Microsoft are the only 2 companies in the $2 trillion club while Amazon, Google and Tesla are above $1 trillion. NVidia is closing in rapidly.
Shriram Capital and Shriram City Union Finance will merge with Shriram Transport Finance as part of the overall group restructuring. The combined entity will be christened Shriram Finance Ltd. The combined entity will have overall AUM in excess of Rs.1.50 trillion and a distribution network of over 3,500. It will be a stock swap deal so Shriram Transport will issue 1.55 shares for every one share of SCUF and 0.097 shares for every one share of Shriram Capital. Shareholder and regulatory approvals are still pending.
PB Fintech, which owns and operates the Policybazaar and Paisabazaar platforms, hit a new low of Rs.1,085.90 on 13th December. The stock has fallen below its previous low and is now inching closer to its IPO price of Rs.950. PB Fintech was valued at 46 times Sales, which is quite steep. The focus of PB Fintech will now be on expanding the customer base and addressing the under-penetration of insurance in India. The issue was well received by the market and was subscribed more than 15 times in the IPO.
One of the biggest benchmarks in global bond and loan pricing, the LIBOR, will come to an end as on 31-December. London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR) had been a bone of contention after the regulators had imposed huge penalties on banks for rigging the LIBOR for unfair gains. However, the immediate challenge is that nearly $265 trillion of bonds and debt are linked to the LIBOR. Banks have already spent $10 billion preparing for the demise of LIBOR and are also exploring other alternatives to fill up the gap in benchmark.
Paytm may have had problems with its stock price performance post listing, but the stock continues to see robust financial numbers. For October and November, Paytm reported $22.4 billion, or Rs.1.66 trillion of gross merchandise value or GMV, on the Paytm platform. This is 129% higher than the corresponding period last year. Paytm had reported GMV of Rs.1.95 trillion for Sep-21 quarter. Paytm deployed a total of 16 lakh devices Nov-21. Paytm stock has been under a lot of pressure as weak hands are moving out.
