Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Aug 28, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Aug 28, 2003 |
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Stocks Markets - Stocks LIC picks up Harshad's 14.6 lakh Reliance shares Dinesh Narayanan
Mumbai , Aug. 27 THE Special Court hearing cases related to the 1992 stock scam, on Wednesday approved the sale of five blocks of benami shares held by deceased stockbroker Harshad Mehta for about Rs 100 crore in an auction that saw intense bidding, particularly for the shares of Reliance Industries Ltd. The most valuable chunk, 14.6 lakh RIL shares, that was on the block went to the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) at Rs 365 per share, but only after all-out efforts by three other bidders — Prima Gold Impex, Antique Stock Brokers and stockbroker Mr Ashok Samani — to convince the Special Judge, Mr D.K. Deshmukh, to give them extra time to pay for the shares or accept staggered payment, failed. Even though the three bidders raised their quotes to Rs 370 per share, the Court favoured LIC's immediate payment to the higher bid with modified terms. In a last-ditch attempt, they sought to club the three bids, each taking one-third of the lot at Rs 372.5 per share without changing the terms and conditions but fetching the auctioneer, the Custodian of Harshad Mehta's assets, Rs 1 crore more. The attempt prompted the Custodian's counsel, Mr Gaurav Joshi, to remark that the three bidders appeared to be in cartel. The Court denied them permission saying, "This is a Court of law and not a stock market. It is not the money that matters here but fairness. It would not be fair to others if I allow a modification." According to the Custodian's terms and conditions, a person can bid for "all or none" of the shares on the block. LIC had also bid for the block of ITC shares at around Rs 745 per share but was upstaged by Mr Ashok Samani who took it at the rate of Rs 770 a share. Mr Samani also picked up Tata Tea at Rs 214 per share. Apollo Tyres was sold at Rs 175 per share to JPG Builders which beat UTI's quote of Rs 170 per share. Punjab Tractors went at Rs 156 per share to CDC Financial Services. All the stocks have, however, been sold much lower than the ruling market prices. For example, Reliance Industries on Wednesday closed at Rs 393.10 on the BSE compared to the Rs 365 LIC paid to the Custodian. Similarly, Apollo closed the trading day at Rs 187.25 and ITC at Rs 809.50 per share on the BSE. The Custodian of Harshad Mehta's assets had on August 23 received bids from eight parties for 14.6 lakh shares of Reliance Industries, 12.25 lakh shares of Apollo Tyres, 6.03 lakh shares of Punjab Tractors, ITC 2.33 lakh shares of Tata Tea, and 1.17 lakh shares of ITC. It had submitted the bid report under seal to the Special Court early this week. The bidders in the fray were LIC, SBI, UTI, Prima Gold Impex, CDC Financial Services, Antique Stock Brokers, JPG Builders and Mr Ashok Samani.
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