Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL), a diversified financial services company, plans to raise up to Rs 800 crore through a rights issue. The funds mobilised through the rights issue would be utilised to support its subsidiaries and joint ventures in their respective business area.

“Many of our businesses are in build-out mode and require capital. This rights issue will help in executing our strategy,” a company spokesperson said. The board of directors of REL have now constituted a four-member committee to approve the specific features of the rights issue.

The four members of the committee are Mr Sunil Godhwani, Chairman and Managing Director, REL, Mr Shachindra Nath, Group CEO, REL, Mr Anil Saxena, Group CFO, REL and Mr Ravi Mehrotra, Executive Director and Board Member, REL.

Size to be decided later

This committee will in due course decide the exact size of the rights issue, pricing, record date and also the rights entitlement ratio. REL board has approved the proposed rights issue for up to Rs 800 crore along with an option to increase the issue size by up to 10 per cent.

REL is once again looking to raise capital through the rights issue route.

The company had last year mopped up about Rs 1,810 crore through rights issue of shares at a price of Rs 355 per share (including a premium of Rs 345). The rights entitlement for the previous offering was fixed at two shares for every three held on the record date. The promoters' stake had increased to 57.16 per cent from 53.73 per cent after the right issue.

Meanwhile, REL shares closed at Rs 477.5, down over one per cent over the previous day's close, on the BSE on Wednesday. The aggregate shareholding of promoters and promoters group in REL stood at about 70 per cent in end March 2011. While HNIs have 16 per cent stake in the company, other players such as foreign institutional investors (1.68 per cent), mutual funds (0.18 per cent) and small retail investors (1.36 per cent) have only insignificance presence in the company.

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