The stock of Larsen & Toubro will turn ex-date tomorrow (Tuesday) for the proposed mega buyback offer. That means, for investors who wish to participate in its first-ever buyback, today is the cut-off date to acquire L&T.
The board of L&T had approved buying back 3.3 crore shares, or 2.4 per cent of its equity, through the tender offer route at a price of up to ₹3,000 per share for a maximum consideration of ₹10,000 crore.
L&T has fixed September 12 as the record date. Given the current stock price at around Rs 2,900, the expectation is that the buyback will see a muted response.
This is the first ever share buyback by the company, which attempted a buyback in 2019 but ran into trouble with the SEBI.
At that time, the company was planning to buy back shares worth ₹9,000 crore at ₹1,475 a share, but was directed by SEBI not to proceed with the buyback. The regulator had said that the aggregate of secured and unsecured debts owed by the company after the buy-back (assuming full acceptance) will be more than twice the paid-up capital and free reserves of the company based on consolidated financial statements, and the buyback was not in compliance with the Companies Act and SEBI norms. This was due to the debt of the financial services company in the group, L&T Finance Holdings.