Heard on the street: 'Pink Panther' stuck with Fineotex Chemicals counter

A tricky market has caught some of the seasoned operators on the wrong foot. The buzz is that a well-known operator, currently banned from trading in securities, is stuck in the Fineotex Chemicals counter.

The man in question had cornered a large chunk of the stock at half the issue price and managed to rig up the price to palm off the shares to 'friendly' fund managers and institutions. But thanks to a choppy market, limited floating stock and low liquidity, he was not able to offload it.

Brokers, who call the man 'pink panther', say that he is willing to dump the entire holding at Rs 60, which is at a steep discount to the current price, but is double the price which he paid. Fineotex, which makes speciality chemicals, listed its shares in March 2011 with an offer price of Rs 70.

On the first day of listing, the stock had surged 101% to close at 140.90. Since then, the stock has risen 283% in a bearish market.

A look at the company's shareholding pattern as on June 30,2011 shows that promoters hold 62.5% in the company, non-institutional holders hold 36.1% while clearing members hold 0.52%, suggesting that retail investors have only 0.9% stake - a key reason for the low liquidity.

The stock has been very volatile with the operator trying to keep up the counter ticking, say brokers.