Buzzing Stocks: Zomato, Wipro, Coal India, NHPC, Bharti Airtel, IRCTC, Tata Tech and others in news

Zomato: China’s Ant Group arm, Antfin Singapore Holdings Pte, is likely to sell up to a 2 percent stake (17.64 crore shares) in Zomato for Rs 2,800 crore through a block deal, sources told CNBC-Awaaz. The floor price for the block deal has been fixed at Rs 159.4 per share, which represents a 4 percent discount from the current market price.

Wipro: The IT services company has acquired a 27 percent stake in SDVerse LLC to strengthen its positioning as a leader in software-defined vehicle and cloud car engineering services. The transaction is expected to be completed before the end of March 2024.

NHPC: The state-run power company has started developing the 1,200-MW Jalaun Ultra Renewable Energy Power Park in Jalaun, Uttar Pradesh. The solar park will be developed by Bundelkhand Saur Urja, a subsidiary company of NHPC, with an investment of Rs 796.96 crore. The park is proposed to be set up in 24 months from the investment approval and will generate about 2,400 MUs of electricity every year.

Tata Technologies: The Tata Group company has appointed S Sukanya as chief operating officer with effect from March 6, 2024. S. Sukanya was working at Tata Consultancy Services as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer.

Coal India: Chhattisgarh-based Coal India subsidiary South Eastern Coalfield’s Gevra mine is set to become the largest coal mine in Asia. The mine has been granted environmental clearance to expand production capacity to 70 million tons per year from the current 52.5 million metric tonnes.

Bharti Airtel: After receipt of notices for conversion of FCCBs of principal value of $40,862,000 from certain FCCB holder(s), the Special Committee of Directors for Fund Raising of the telecom operator has approved the allotment of 56,81,733 fully paid-up equity shares at a conversion price of Rs 518 per equity share to FCCB holders. The outstanding principal value of FCCBs, as listed on the Singapore Exchange, stands at $337.967 million.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation: IRCTC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Swiggy (Bundl Technologies) to provide pre-ordered meals to passengers of Indian Railways through IRCTC e-Catering Services. This service will be made available initially on Bengaluru, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, and Bhubaneswar stations, and the number of stations may be increased or decreased on mutual agreement during the currency of the Proof of Concept (PoC).

Havells India: The electrical equipment company is planning to expand its existing product portfolio with the introduction of kitchen appliances such as cooktops, hobs, chimneys, and other built-in appliances. The new venture is expected to bring benefits of synergies of business with its existing range of small domestic appliances. The company aims to be one of the top three market players over the next three years from the start of operations. The entire range of products will be outsourced to serve the domestic market. The expected date of launch for the category of products is May 2024.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail: Investor Caladium Investment Pte Ltd. has exercised its right to convert all of the 6,58,00,866 warrants of the company into equity shares at the conversion ratio of one equity share in lieu of one warrant.

Bharat Forge: The company has invested 20 million euros (Rs 179.90 crore) in its subsidiary Bharat Forge Global Holding GmbH (BFGH) in Germany. BFGH will use these funds for group business activities.

GR Infraprojects: Promoter group members Laxmi Devi Agarwal, Suman Agarwal, Ritu Agarwal, Lalita Agarwal, and Kiran Agarwal will be selling up to 5 percent stake (48,34,450 equity shares) in the open market to achieve minimum public shareholding. Currently, the total promoter and promoter group shareholding is 79.74 percent.

The Bank of India: The bank has invested Rs 60.35 crore in the National Asset Reconstruction Company under preferential share issuance. As a result of this investment, Bank of India’s equity holdings in NARCL will remain the same at 9 percent (after allotment of new shares).

JSW Energy: JSW Renew Energy Five, the step-down subsidiary of JSW Energy, has signed a Battery Energy Storage Purchase Agreement (BESPA) for the first project of a 250 MW or 500 MWh standalone battery energy storage system. This is part of the total awarded project capacity of 500 MW/1,000 MWh (two projects each of 250 MW/500 MWh) with Solar Energy Corporation of India.

JM Financial: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) barred JM Financial Products (JMFPL) from giving loans against shares and debentures, including sanction and disbursal of loans against the initial public offering (IPO) of shares, with immediate effect. The action has been taken by the RBI after observing certain serious deficiencies in the financial services firm’s loan process. More importantly, the central bank highlighted that there are serious concerns about the governance issues in the company, apart from violations of regulatory guidelines.

Torrent Pharmaceuticals: The US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) conducted the pre-approval inspection (PAI) at the company’s oral-oncology manufacturing facility in Bileshwarpura, Gujarat, on December 5–11. After the inspection, the USFDA issued an Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) for the said manufacturing facility. And the inspection has now been successfully closed by the USFDA.

CESC: Subsidiary Crescent Power has acquired 100 percent shareholding of Purvah Green Power to increase the company’s renewable footprint and partially meet its renewable purchase obligations for its distribution business. After this, Purvah has become a step-down subsidiary of the company.

REC: The Board of Directors will meet on March 16 to consider the third interim dividend, if any, for the financial year 2023–24.

Indiabulls Real Estate: The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has issued the vacation order, directing Indiabulls Real Estate and its subsidiary Indiabulls Industrial Infrastructure to vacate the land area of 512.068 hectares in the SEZ at Nashik district, Maharashtra, within one month of receiving the order. Indiabulls Industrial Infrastructure was in the process of planning and conducting further development on the land at SEZ and submitted a preliminary proposal of a revival plan, on a non-prejudice basis, with MIDC. Indiabulls Real Estate believes this order to be unlawful and is evaluating legal options to defend itself against the said unlawful order, including filing an appeal before appropriate authorities or court(s).

Bhagiradha Chemicals and Industries: The board has given its approval for sub-division or split of one equity share of face value of Rs 10 each into 10 equity shares of face value of Rs 1 each, fully paid up. This is subject to the approval of the members of the company.

Samvardhana Motherson International: Sumitomo Wiring, a promoter entity in automotive company Samvardhana Motherson, is likely to offload a 4.5 percent stake via block deal, CNBC Awaaz reported, citing sources. Around 30 crore shares would be sold by Sumitomo Wiring through the block deal. The floor price for the block deal has been set at Rs 121–122 per share.

Sonata Software: As part of strategic expansion plans in key markets, the modernization engineering company announced its plan to set up a delivery center in Kraków, Poland. The nearshore center will support the growing demands for business transformation, modernization, and cost optimization initiatives from global clients in Europe.

G. M. Polyplast: Richa Ghosh has resigned from the position of Chief Financial Officer of the company with effect from March 5. The company is in the process of hiring a new person for the vacant position.

Aavas Financiers: SBI Mutual Fund has bought 63 lakh equity shares in a housing finance company, and Amansa Holdings picked 23,59,350 shares at an average price of Rs 1,370 per share via open market transactions. These shares are valued at Rs 1,186.3 crore. However, promoters Lake District Holdings sold 58,39,578 equity shares in Aavas at an average price of Rs 1,370.01 per share, Partners Group ESCL 28,89,373 equity shares at a price of Rs 1,370 per share, and Partners Group Private Equity (Master Fund) LLC offloaded 12,67,999 shares at an average price of Rs 1,370.2 per share. In total, they sold 12.63 percent of the stake for Rs 1,369.6 crore.

TD Power Systems: Vittoria Fund-OC, LP bought 46 lakh equity shares in the company at an average price of Rs 320.5 per share from foreign portfolio investor BNP Paribas Arbitrage.