Uno Investments, the investment vehicle of the private equity firm Chrys Capital Mauritius Ltd, has exited the Chennai-based Shriram Transport Finance Company Ltd (STC) by selling its remaining 2.13% stake in the open market. At the current market price, the sale could have fetched the PE firm over Rs 176 crore, though the exact price was not known.
Shriram Transport Finance stock closed on the National Stock Exchange at Rs 391, up 0.24% on Friday. Uno has been diluting its holding in STC progressively since 2006. It was originally holding close to 21% stake in the Chennai-based NBFC.
Genesis Indian Investment Company Ltd, another foreign institutional investor (FII), however, has hiked its stake in STC to 6.32% by lapping up 32,28,822 shares from the open market. Genesis was holding a tad lower than 4.8% in the company.
In a regulatory filing, STC said Uno Investments has sold its remaining 45,10,544 shares in the open market between October 29 and November 4. n Continued on Page 3
This translates into 2.13% of the total paid-up equity capital of the company.
?Uno had made a neat profit by exiting the company. They bought close to 21% stake in STC at rock bottom levels. By progressively selling the stock at peaks, they have profited immensely from the investment,? said an analyst with a local brokerage house on the condition of anonymity.
The Chrys Capital arm had picked up around 21% stake in STC in February 2005 by way of preferential allotment. It was allotted about 1.35 crore shares of Rs 10 each at a price of Rs 35. Uno was also allotted 29.66 lakh convertible warrants at a price of Rs 35, which was converted into equity later.
Incorporated in 1979, Shriram Transport Finance is a pure play non-banking finance company with a network of over 480 branches. It is the flagship company of the Chennai-based Shriram Group with interests in chit funds, consumer durable finance, insurance ? both life and non-life ? stock broking, wind energy, among others. For the second quarter ended September 2009, the company clocked a profit after tax of Rs 207.45 crore over a turnover of Rs 1,071.61 crore.