L&T Finance OFS subscribed 3.2 times

The offer for sale (OFS) of L&T Finance Holdings has been subscribed 3.2 times on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Parent Larsen & Toubro had offered 16.5 million shares for sale, leading to a dilution of 0.96 per cent stake, at a floor price of Rs 74 each. It had said it may sell up to 11 million shares, in addition to the sale of shares.

The offered price was at a 10 per cent discount to Tuesday's close of Rs 81.9 on the NSE.

The stock traded weaker and hit an intra-day low of Rs 76.7 before closing at Rs 78, down five per cent on previous close. At the end of March quarter, the promoters’ stake in L&T Finance Holdings was 76.61 per cent.

With the OFS, L&T's shareholding in L&T Finance Holdings is close to 75 per cent, meeting capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)’s norms wherein promoters' holding in listed companies is capped at 75 per cent. In March, L&T had sold 83 million shares in the company at Rs 70 each, leading to a stake dilution of 4.85 per cent. Wednesday’s OFS came in days of Sebi widening its probe in alleged insider trading in the shares of L&T Finance. Around 70 entities including foreign brokerage firms, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and others are under scanner.

The probe had resulted in Sebi barring Cayman Islands-based hedge fund Factorial Master Fund from Indian securities markets.

This fund, managed by Hong Kong-based Factorial Capital Management, traded in derivative contracts of L&T Finance with offshore derivative contracts through five FIIs in an "aberrant and suspicious" manner.

These five FIIs were Macquarie Bank, Goldman Sachs Singapore, Merrill Lynch CM Espana, Nomura Singapore and Citigroup Global Markets Mauritius Ltd.

A probe by the capital markets regulator found that Factorial was involved as potential investor in the market gauging exercise undertaken by Credit Suisse as 'Seller Broker' of L&T Finance for its Offer for Sale (OFS) in March.

While Sebi has passed an interim order barring Factorial from Indian markets, a further probe is underway against other entities and to find out those involved in flow of 'insider information' about shares sale price of L&T Finance.

Larsen & Toubro Limited