Radhakishan Damani reportedly planning to buy controlling stake in India Cements; share jumps 11% – Moneycontrol.com

Shares of India Cements rallied 10.6 percent intraday on June 17 after a media report indicated that Radhakishan Damani, the owner of supermarkets chain D-Mart, is planning to take control of the company.

The stock has rallied 74 percent from its March lows and gained 95 percent so far in 2020. The consistent buying by Damani could be the reason behind this rally. It was trading at Rs 131.05, up 4.01 percent on the BSE at 11:05 hours IST.

“Radhakishan Damani, the Indian tycoon who built a fortune rolling out his supermarkets across the country, is considering acquiring a controlling stake in India Cements,” reported Bloomberg quoting people familiar with the matter.

Moneycontrol could not independently confirm the news.

“Damani, the owner of Avenue Supermarts, has informally reached out to the cement manufacturer’s controlling shareholder, N Srinivasan, to explore a takeover. Srinivasan is also exploring other investors to ward off any hostile bids, while Damani has promised a friendly change in management and isn’t seeking a hostile takeover,” the report added.

N Srinivasan and other promoters held 28.26 percent equity stake in the cement maker, while Radhakishan S Damani family has 19.89 percent shareholding in the company as of March 2020.

Radhakishan Damani started buying stake in India Cements from September quarter 2019 onwards. At the time, his holding was 1.3 percent. By the end of December quarter, his shareholding jumped to 4.73 percent.

In March quarter alone, he along with his brother Gopikishan Shivkishan Damani has bought 15.16 percent stake, taking their total shareholding in the cement company to 19.89 percent.

India Cements on June 24 will release its audited annual accounts for the year ended March 31 2020.

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