BSMA sells stakes in 36 firms

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Chennai, Nov 20: BSMA Ltd, the international equity investment arm of Bear Stearns Ltd, has sold its holdings in as many as 36 Indian companies since November 3 through various open market deals struck on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) with the Mauritius-based foreign institutional investor (FII) Copthal Mauritius Investments Ltd (Copthal). BSMA had netted a bit lower than Rs 400 crore from these deals. The companies in which it had sold a part or whole of its stake include Bharti Shipyard, Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), the mid-cap IT firm Tanla Solutions, Jaiprakash Associates, Pannyam Cements, Pennar Industries and Nav Bharat Ventures.

Analysts tracking the market say BSMA’s exit from the Indian market is on the expected lines as the distressed fund has been liquidating its positions in various emerging markets as well as in the US to tide over the liquidity mess it has landed following the global financial meltdown. “Though these are open market deals, it is interesting to note that BSMA had preferred to sell its stake in various companies to a single buyer,” an analyst with a foreign brokerage house told FE.

The percentage stake it sold in various companies varies from a low of 0.60% to as high as 8.65%. The highest amount it raked from these deals is from the sale of its 1.68% stake in Jaiprakash Associates that netted a whooping Rs 171.62 crore. It has netted Rs 37.97 crore by selling 4,06,000 shares in SCI amounting to 1.73% stake in the company. It had gathered another Rs 24.94 crore by selling its 8.65% stake in Pannyam Cements and Rs 23.80 crore for its 7.74% stake in Pennar Industries. Similarly, it has sold its 3.25% stake in Sadbavana Engineering to Copthal for a consideration of Rs 13.60.