The Hindu Business Line : McNally Bharat’s paid-up equity to go up

The paid-up equity of McNally Bharat Engineering Company, jointly promoted by BK Khaitan and GP-CK Birla groups, is set to go up to Rs 30.9 crore from the current Rs 27.41 crore with the conversion of 14.5-lakh warrants to Williamson Magor.

The board has already allotted the shares to Khaitan group companies and is awaiting the BSE approval for listing of these securities on the exchange.

Expanded capital

Mr Prabir Kumar Ghose, CFO of the company, told Business Line that the shareholding of the Khaitans would now nearly match that of GP-CK Birla group at around 17 per cent each of the expanded capital.

The shareholding pattern has been changing as the equity has been expanding in recent quarters through conversion of warrants and FCCBs. The paid-up equity as on March 31, 2006, was Rs 26.46 crore.

A couple of weeks ago, the company allotted a total of 14,53,000 shares of Rs 10 each on conversion of equal number of warrants to Williamson Magor and a few company officials for Rs 20.96 crore based on revised pricing of Rs 144.29 per warrant. GP-CK Birla group holding in McNally is through a string of privately held companies including National Bearing Co (Jaipur).

FCCB conversion

The company in December, 2007 had also allotted 6,35,804 shares to Goldman Sachs International in the fourth and final tranche of conversion of FCCBs, which were issued on November 15, 2007.

Goldman had sold off some shares, obtained through earlier conversions, through market transactions. Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund reportedly picked up some of the shares offloaded by Goldman in December last year. But Goldman is yet to offload the last batch of converted equities.

As on September 30, 2007, Indiaman Fund (Mauritius), Lotus Global, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Sundaram BNP Paribas, Birla Sun Life were among the total 12 institutional investors holding 32.6 per cent in McNally.

The stock, a component of BSE 500 and BSE Small Cap Index, today closed in the green at Rs 272, after a losing streak in the past one month.