Nomura picks up 9% stake in McLeod Russel

MUMBAI: Shares of tea producer McLeod Russel recovered 21% from its intraday low to touch a 52-week high of 248.30 on Thursday after its promoter Kamal Kishore Baheti announced that he has sold 1 crore shares, representing 9.14% stake in the company. According to BSE bulk deal data, Nomura has bought the entire lot at Rs 205.09.

Baheti held nearly 24.73% stake in the company as on September 31, 2017, but after the stake sale, his holdings dropped to around 15.59%.

After the block deal, the stock fell by as much as 6.4% to Rs 205 a share, but it soon erased all the losses and bounced back by as much as 10%.

The stock has gained in the last nine out of the 11 trading sessions and rose 45% in this period. It has gained 60.56% so far this year. The promoters’ holding in the company stood at 49.89%, while institutions and non-institutions held 32.17% and 17.94%, respectively.

Domestic mutual funds such as ICICI Prudential, IDFC, Sundaram and Kotak together holds about 13.52% stake in the company.

On Wednesday, domestic brokerage Sharekhan had re-initiated its coverage on the company with a positive. “We expect revenues to report a CAGR of 17% from FY2017-FY2020E and profits to post a CAGR of 60% during the same period. We had booked out of stock at Rs 246 more than two years ago, sensing a downturn in tea prices, but the scenario is changing for the better now.”