After almost a year of investing in Pricol Ltd, Minda Corporation exited the automotive component maker by selling its entire 15.7% stake through the open market on Wednesday.
Minda Corp sold 1,91,22,458 shares of Pricol at an average price of INR 345 apiece for approximately INR 660 crore, according to bulk deals data on the exchanges.
In February last year, Minda Corp acquired a 15.7% stake in Pricol, at INR 208.98 a share, for INR 400 crore.
Within a year, Minda Corp made a profit of approximately INR 260 crore on its investment.
In fact last year, the company sought approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to acquire a 24.5% stake in Pricol. However, Pricol filed an objection with the competition watchdog against Minda Corp’s planned acquisition.
Pricol is Minda Corp’s largest rival in the two-wheeler instrument cluster business.
“This is merely a financial investment without providing the company any special rights in Pricol other than the rights as a shareholder,” Minda Corp had then said.
Despite such a big sell-off, shares of Pricol ended positive due to strong institutional buying. The stock closed 0.7% higher at INR 370.75 on the National Stock Exchange, whereas Minda Corp shares closed up 4.3% at INR 400.65.
Goldman Sachs, Nomura India, Fidelity Funds, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance, ICICI Prudential MF, and Tata MF bought shares of the company through separate deals.
ICICI Prudential MF was the biggest buyer of 37,45,000 shares, representing 3% stake for INR 125 crore.
Goldman Sachs bought 14,90,024 shares for INR 51.2 crore, Aditya Birla Sun Life purchased 30,30,000 shares for INR 104 crore, Fidelity Funds acquired 30,70,947 shares for INR 105 crore, and Nomura India picked up 30,97,900 shares worth INR 106 crore.
