ITC shares tumbles 4% on BAT’s 2.5% stake sale worth Rs 12,900 crore

Shares of ITC slipped 4.3% in early trade to hit the day’s low of Rs 415.10 on BSE on Wednesday, May 28, after British American Tobacco (BAT), via its wholly-owned subsidiary Tobacco Manufacturers (India) offloaded a 2.5% stake in the company worth around Rs 12,926.90 crore, according to the termsheet.

The termsheet further states that 31.3 crore shares were traded as part of the block deal at a price of Rs 413 apiece, a discount of 4.8% over the stock’s closing price of Rs 433.90 on the BSE on Tuesday.

Goldman Sachs (India) Securities and Citigroup Global Markets were the bankers to the transaction.


Earlier, reports indicated that BAT had planned to sell about 2.3% of its stake in the Indian consumer goods major via a block deal. The deal size was subsequently increased.

The London-listed tobacco giant, which currently holds a 25.4% stake in ITC, will remain the company’s largest shareholder even after the proposed sale, retaining a 23.1% holding post-transaction.

The company also said it will raise its 2025 share buyback programme by 200 million pounds to 1.3 billion pounds ($1.67 billion) following the stake sale.

However, BAT clarified that the transaction will not impact its annual financial outlook.

This development comes more than a year after BAT offloaded 436.9 million ITC shares—roughly 3.5% of the company’s outstanding equity—for around Rs 16,690 crore, marking India’s third-largest block trade on record.

BAT CEO Tadeu Marroco, in a release, described ITC as a valued partner in a high-potential market, emphasizing that BAT continues to benefit from its presence in the world’s most populous country.

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According to some media reports, the proposed block deal could be valued at approximately $1.36 billion, with ITC shares expected to be offered at around Rs 400 apiece. However, this information could not be verified by ET.

The shares of ITC closed 2% lower at Rs 433.90 on the BSE on Tuesday.

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