Ashok Leyland Focuses on Debt Reduction, Tiger Trims Just Dial Stake

Mukesh Buch
31 Mar, 2015
New York City

Ashok Leyland sold its loss making subsidiary in Europe. Tiger Global lowered its stake in Just Dial and raised $48 million. Larsen & Toubro received contract for about ₹1,432 crore from the Ministry of Defence. Pidilite agreed to acquire 70% stake in Mumbai-based Nina Waterproofing.

[R]6:00 PM Mumbai – Ashok Leyland sold its loss making subsidiary in Europe. Tiger Global lowered its stake in Just Dial and raised $48 million. Larsen & Toubro received contract for about ₹1,432 crore from the Ministry of Defence. Pidilite agreed to acquire 70% stake in Mumbai-based Nina Waterproofing.[/R]

Sensex in India held its ground in volatile trading and rupee edged up higher but flirted near the low of the year.

Rupee gained 17 paisa 62.50 against one dollar.

The Sensex Index fell 18.37 to close at 27,957.49. The CNX Nifty slid 1.30 to 8,491.

For the month, Sensex Index and CNX Nifty declined 5.7% and in the first quarter of 2015, the Sensex jumped 1.5% and CNX Nifty climbed 2.5%.

Gainers & Losers

Ashok Leyland Limited fell 0.6% to ₹73.55 and the commercial vehicles maker said it has sold its Czech subsidiary for nearly $11 million.

The anchor company of the Hinduja Group has been selling assets to raise cash, restructure business, and pay down debt.

Ashok Leyland had acquired Avia Group for $35 million in 2010 to accelerate its expansion in Europe and access certain production technology, however the loss making subsidiary failed to live up to its expectations.

Ashok Leyland also lowered its stake in its wind energy subsidiary to 11.5% from 48.5%.

The vehicle maker said it has reached ahead of schedule its target of reducing debt-to-equity ratio to 1:1 and plans to lower the ratio to 0.5:1 in the next three-to-five years.

The debt ridden company has lowered its debt to ₹4,200 crore from the peak of ₹6,000 crore in 2013.

Just Dial Limited rose 0.1% to ₹1,320.55 and the U.S. based private equity manager Tiger Global lowered its stake in online search engine developer by 3.41% to 9.8%.

The bulk deal for the sale of 24 lakh shares fetched Tiger nearly ₹300 crore and Goldman Sachs acquired 2.7% stake in the transaction.

Larsen & Toubro Limited slid 0.5% to ₹1,719 after the engineering infrastructure maker received contract for about ₹1,432 crore from the Ministry of Defence.

Pidilite Industries Ltd rose 0.6% to ₹600.90 after the adhesive paint maker agreed to acquire 70% stake and to invest ₹100 crore in Mumbai-based Nina Waterproofing Systems.

TD Power Systems Limited climbed 5.4% to ₹359.40 after the electric power generator maker received order from Diesel Locomotive Works in Varansi.

Valecha Engineering Limited soared 9.1% to ₹89.80 after the construction company received orders for construction projects worth ₹125.49 crore in Jharkhand and Amdavad.