FTIL stock gains 5% after BofA-ML picks up stake

The Financial Technologies (India), or FTIL, stock on Thursday gained five per cent after the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch acquired a 0.51 per cent stake in the company through a secondary market purchase on Wednesday. The global investment bank’s arm Merrill Lynch Capital Markets Espana SA bought FTIL’s 235,461 shares at Rs 347.76 apiece, bulk deal data on the National Stock Exchange showed.

Shares of FTIL ended at Rs 370, up Rs 17.60, or five per cent, on Thursday. FTIL is the parent company of scam-hit National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL), a commodities spot exchange facing a Rs 5,600-crore settlement crisis. FTIL has seen its value erode by more than 40 per cent since the NSEL crisis came to light in July 2013.

The stock, which currently commands a market capitalisation of Rs 1,700 crore, has also seen an exodus of a lot of institutional investors following the NSEL fiasco. Private equity major Blackstone, which owns a seven per cent stake in FTIL, is one of the biggest institutional shareholders in the company.