The week of Ambani bros

Bulk deals during the ninth trading week of 2012 belonged to the Ambani bros. Large buying from firms belonging to both Mukesh Ambani as well as Anil Ambani took place during the week.

Reliance Industries’ buyout of Analjit Singh’s stake in EIH (Oberoi Hotels) for Rs. 192 crores was the highlight deal of the week. On March 2, 2012, Reliance Industries Investment and Holding Limited bought 21.3 million shares of EIH Limited from Pivet Finances Limited and Gaylord Impex Limited (both belonging to Analjit Singh) at an average price of Rs. 90/- per share. Do recall that Mukesh came as a white knight for Bikki Oberoi in Aug 2010, buying close to 15% stake in the hotel company for Rs. 1,000 crores, to ensure that ITC did not become a threat to the current management. The deal marks the complete exit of Analjit Singh from EIH.

The younger Ambani – whose firms are usually quite active in the bulk deals section – was seen lapping up shares in Intel-backed Persistent Systems Limited. As per the data available on NSE and BSE, Reliance Capital bought a little less than one million shares of the pune-based IT firm at an average price of Rs. 305/- per share. Reliance Capital now owns 6.5% in Persistent Systems. US-based Capital Group Companies, Inc. was the seller in Persistent Systems.

Two more companies which saw some buying were: Talwalkar Fitness and ABG Shipyard. An entity named American Funds Insurance bought 2.5 lac shares in Talwalkar Fitness at an average price of Rs. 160/- while Deutsche Securities Mauritius was the buyer in ABG Shipyard, taking up 5.0 lac shares for Rs. 20.4 crores. Do remember that last week some shares of ABG Shipyard were picked up by Australia-based Macquarie Bank too.