The government’s Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India on Wednesday sold nearly 2.5% stake in Larsen & Toubro Limited for Rs 4,000 crore through six block deals, BloombergQuint reported. The government’s stake has now come down to a little over 4%.
The stocks of L&T traded in green after the sale was reported. The shares ended 3.25 points up at Rs 1,753.85 per piece on the Bombay Stock Exchange, and 2.30 points up on the National Stock Exchange. It hit a high of Rs 1,781.40 and a low of Rs 1755.75 in the morning session.
The sale will help the government to meet its annual fiscal deficit target of meeting 3.2% of gross domestic product, Reuters reported. The Centre has a target to raise Rs 725 billion via sale of partial government stakes in private and state-run firms this fiscal.
SUUTI held about 6.69% stake in L&T as per the company filling at the stock exchange at the end of March 31. The move to make the sale was part of SUUTI’s decision to bring down its stake to just above 3% in L&T, according to BloombergQuint.
SUUTI was created to take over part of the assets and liabilities of now-defunct Unit Trust of India. Besides L&T, SUUTI also holds stake in 51 companies, including ITC and Axis Bank. In November 2016, through SUUTI, the government had sold 1.63% stake in L&T raising Rs 2,100 crore.
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