Tata Sons nets Rs 11,164 crore from TCS buyback, LIC Rs 528 crore

Close to a million retail investors in TCS tender shares in the just-concluded buyback programme

Tata Sons has pocketed Rs 11,164 crore by tendering 24.81 million shares in the Rs 18,000-crore share repurchase programme by the group's flagship firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Meanwhile, state-owned insurer Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) tendered 1.17 million shares to take home Rs 528 crore.

Small shareholders--those holding shares worth up to Rs 2 lakh--tendered 25.3 million shares in the buyback, 4.22 times the 6 million shares reserved for them in the buyback. All other shareholders tendered 5.7 million, 8.1 times of the 34 million shares the company intended to buyback.

A total of 977,300 valid applications were made by small shareholders and another 151,377 applications came from all other categories of shareholders, as per a regulatory filing made by TCS. A total of 40 million shares were bought at RS 4,500 apiece in the buyback, which concluded last week.

Shares of TCS on Monday closed at Rs 3,706.

Post the buyback, Tata Sons’ shareholding in TCS has increased from 72.19 per cent to 72.30 per cent. Meanwhile, the public shareholding has declined from 27.81 per cent to 27.7 per cent. The total equity paid up capital of TCS has reduced to about 3.66 billion shares from nearly 3.7 billion shares.

Since 2017, TCS has bought back shares worth ~66,000 crore through four repurchase programmes. Shares bought back under such repurchase programmes are extinguished, which improves the company’s return ratios.