The Hindu Business Line : Premier sees heightened activity

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Kolkata Feb. 19 Premier Ltd is seeing heightened activity of late in view of promoters and a group of non-promoters making separate moves to increase their respective stakes in the auto component company.

Today the stock finished at Rs 54.10, hitting its 5 per cent upper circuit on the BSE with a traded quantity of 75,920 shares. On the NSE, some 37,308 shares of Premier changed hands. The stock hit its 52-week high on February 9, at Rs 59.35. The fortnightly volume average of the counter on the BSE stands at 1.93 lakh shares.

There is a proposal to allot 43.26 lakh equally convertible warrants on preferential basis to the promoters, who have been jointly holding 29.76 per cent of the Rs 26.09-crore paid-up capital till now. The shareholders are to consider the proposal at an EGM on February 22. As per the conversion proposal, within a period of 18 months each warrant will fetch one equity share of Rs 10 each at a premium Rs 28.50 per share.

Interestingly, Patton International, a Kolkata-based company, and three other family members of the promoters of the Patton group, have increased their combined stake in Premier to around 13 per cent, emerging as holders of the largest block of shares outside the Premier promoter group. Mr Sanjay Budhia, Managing Director of Patton International, when contacted by Business Line, said the combined holding of the Patton promoters and Patton International has gone up to about 13 per cent during the period between January 1, 2007 and today.

The Premier Ltd Company Secretary, Mr Ramesh Tavhare, clarified that the total holding of the Patton group now stands at 12.58 per cent through their buying between January 5 and February 15.

According to the shareholding pattern declared by Premier to the stock exchanges, as on December 31, 2006, four entities - Patton International, Mr Hari Prasad Budhia (Patton group chairman), Ms Uma Devi Budhia, and Ms Minu Budhia - jointly held 10.80 per cent stake in Premier as on December 31, 2006.

According to the statement to the stock exchanges, among other shareholders holding more than one per cent of the paid-up capital of Premier in the "public" category were LIC (8.01 per cent) and CD Equifinance (1.06 per cent). The explanatory statement mentions raising of funds as the reason for the proposed preferential warrant issue under the SEBI rules. This issue price is at a substantial discount to the current market price.

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