D-Mart promoter to shed 1%

The share price of Avenue Supermarts, the owner of India’s most fancied retail chain D-Mart, took a pounding on Friday. It fell by over 5 per cent as its promoter Radhakishan Damani said he would be offloading 1 per cent stake in the company.

Damani will sell shares to comply with the minimum public shareholding requirements, the company said in a filing to the stock exchanges. Damani is considered India’s most astute stock market trader and investor. The timing of his exit and entry into any stock is widely tracked by traders who want to gauge the market direction.

It has just been a year since Avenue Supermarts was listed in March last year and promoters are given three-year time to comply with regulatory requirements. The fact that Damani had chosen to sell stake now indicates that Avenue Supermarts could be near its near-term peak, an expert told BusinessLine . The share price of Avenue Supermarts saw a five-fold gain to touch a high of ₹1,534 in just a year from its IPO, which was priced at ₹300.

Shares of Avenue Supermarts fell 5.24 per cent to close at ₹1,413 on the BSE. Intraday, the stock plunged 7.76 per cent to ₹1,379. Based on the current share price of Avenue Supermarts at ₹1,424 apiece, the sale of 62,40,844 shares may fetch around ₹888 crore for Damani.

Avenue Supermarts said the share sale by Damani will be in the period beginning from May 21 to June 14 or the actual date of completion of sale of all equity shares, whichever is earlier.

According to regulatory norms, every listed firm needs to maintain public shareholding of at least 25 per cent. Listed public sector companies have been provided additional time till August 21 to comply with the requirements.

With the blockbuster listing of Avenue Supermarts, Damani broke into the billionaire’s club and is now among the top 20 richest Indians.

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