IT major Wipro, which is buying back more than 260 million of equity shares, has received offers of more than 3,910 million equity shares from its promoter and promoter group, who along with persons in control of the company hold more than 4,000 million of equity shares.
In the 2021 share buyback, Azim Premji and promoter groups tendered 228 million shares worth of Rs 9,156 crore and brought their stake down from 74% to 73%.
Wipro had announced last month that it will buy back 26,96,62,921 equity shares, about 4.91% of its total number of equity shares, the biggest in terms of buyback size in its recent history. The IT firm will give back Rs 12,000 crore to its equity shareholders by buying shares at Rs 445 each share.
The Bengaluru-based IT firm has received offers from promoter and promoter group as well as persons in control of the company for about 391,74,17,716 of equity shares. The promoter and promoter group as well as persons in control of the company hold a 72.92% stake in the company. Wipro’s board of directors has approved the buyback of fully paid-up equity shares on a proportionate basis through the tender offer route.
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Wipro said in a filing made to regulators that the buyback through the tender offer route would also involve a reservation of up to 15% for small shareholders. The company said, “Buyback would help in improving financial ratios like earnings per share and return on equity, by reducing the equity base of the company.”
Motilal Oswal Research had said that “the large buyback programme will deplete a significant portion of cash and investments of the company and may hit its ability to maintain payout over FY24/25E”. The free cash flow of Wipro for FY23 was Rs 11,631 crore.