Icra shares up after Moody's raises open offer price

On Wednesday, the scrip of ICRA closed at Rs 2,352, up 17.6%It is paying Rs 2,400 per share

Shares of credit-rating agency Icra surged 20 per cent after parent company Moody’s Investor Services scaled up the open offer price 20 per cent to Rs 2,400 a share on Wednesday. Analysts said the revision was due to the recent rise in the stock, which had risen to levels close to the original open offer price of Rs 2,000 a share.

On Wednesday, the Icra stock closed at Rs 2,352 on the BSE, up 17.6 per cent against its previous close. The stock had hit an intra-day high of Rs 2,400.

“This is positive for Icra, as its competitive positioning will be further bolstered within India. We also believe the Moody’s open offer is a prelude to a strong outsourced ratings opportunity (currently, a fifth CRISIL's outsourced ratings),” Edelweiss Securities said in a note to clients. The brokerage house has maintained a ‘buy’ call on the stock.

In February, Moody’s had launched an open offer to raise its stake in Icra from 28.5 per cent to 50-55 per cent.

Since the open offer announcement, the Icra stock has risen by 35.6 per cent. Since last year, this is the fourth open offer and the second in the credit-rating sector. In July 2013, McGraw Hill Financial Inc, owner of Standard & Poor’s, had made an open offer to raise its stake in rating agency CRISIL from 52.8 per cent to 75 per cent. The open offer price was fixed at Rs 1,210 a share, valuing the overall deal at Rs 1,900 crore. Since the announcement of the open offer, the CRISIL stock has risen 26 per cent.