Stocks to Watch: Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, BPCL, Airtel – Mint

BPCL: India’s plan to privatise Bharat Petroleum Corp. has run into rough weather with bidders struggling to find partners and spread their financial risks. The three suitors–the Vedanta group and Apollo Global Management, and I Squared Capital–are talking to global energy giants and sovereign and pension funds, but haven’t been able to finalise partners

Bharti Airtel: The telco has informed the government that it will opt for the four-year moratorium on payment of AGR and spectrum dues. The option of dues moratorium was offered to telcos as part of a recently-announced relief package for the telecom sector.  Airtel told the government that it will take the four-year moratorium “with the option of prepaying as per NIA (notice inviting application) norms”.

Telecom stocks: The Centre has amended norms for telecom licence to reduce the tax burden on telecom operators by exempting all non-telecom revenues, income from dividends, interest, property sale and rent, among others, for calculation of levies like licence fees and spectrum usage charges.

Zee Entertainment: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd and Sony Pictures Networks India plan to complete the due diligence process for the proposed merger by the end of November, three weeks ahead of the 90-day deadline set by the two broadcasters. A single-judge bench at Bombay high court will decide on Tuesday if Zee should be asked to hold a special investor meeting.

Tata groups stocks: The winning bidder for Air India Ltd, the Tata group, and the government on Monday signed a share price agreement (SPA) for the sale of the national carrier. Tata group holding company Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd, through its wholly owned unit Talace Pvt. Ltd, had submitted the winning bid of ₹18,000 crore as the enterprise value of Air India, against a reserve price of ₹12,906 crore.

Tech Mahindra: Has acquired US-based Infostar LLC (Lodestone) and London-based We Make Websites Ltd (WMW) for $105 million and £9.4 million ($13 million), respectively, to strengthen its digital portfolio. Tech Mahindra reported $1.47 billion in revenues for the September quarter, up 6.4% on a sequential basis.

JSW Steel: Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel plans to set up a colour coated steel facility in Pulwama district in Kashmir at a total investment of ₹150 crore. The company has a steel-making capacity of 28 MTPA in India and the US.

Ceat: The tyre maker reported a sharply lower profit of ₹42 crore for the September quarter compared with ₹181.9 crore a year ago, but revenue increased to ₹2,451.8 crore from ₹1,978.5 crore. Board has given approval for fund raising of up to ₹500 crore via debt.

HDFC Asset Management Company: Reported net profit of ₹344.38 crore for the September ended quarter against ₹338.06 crore in Q2FY21, while revenue rose to ₹542.33 crore from ₹456.25 crore a year ago.

Canara Bank: The state-owned lender said it has raised ₹1,500 crore by issuing Basel-III compliant bonds. The bank has issued and allotted Basel-III compliant additional tier I bonds amounting to ₹1,500 crore.