Indiabulls Real Estate announces share buyback worth Rs 500 crore

Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd (IBREL) on Friday announced a buyback of up to 5 crore shares at Rs 100 each, which could cost the company up to Rs 500 crore.

The buyback price is more than than double of the current share price, which is ruling at Rs 43.40 on the BSE.

In a regulatory filing, IBREL informed that its board of directors on Friday "approved a proposal of Rs 500 crore of buyback of up to 5 crore fully paid-up equity shares...representing approximately 11 per cent of its total existing paid-up equity capital at Rs 100 per share".

The buyback would be through the tender offer route, as prescribed by markets regulator SEBI.

All eligible existing holders/beneficial owners of the equity shares (including persons who become shareholders by cancelling Global Depository Receipts and receiving underlying equity shares), on a proportionate basis, could participate.

The board has constituted a buyback committee and delegated it powers to oversee and implement the process.

As per the current shareholding, promoters have 23.36 per cent stake in IBREL, while Bengaluru-based Embassy Group has nearly 14 per cent shareholding.

On Thursday, Embassy Group CMD Jitu Virwani said the group has no immediate plans to increase its stake in IBREL.

"There is no plan right now," Virwani told PTI when asked about the company's plan to raise stake in IBREL.

The company would remain invested in IBREL, he added.

In June, IBREL promoters sold 14 per cent stake through open market operations to Embassy Group for Rs 950 crore, as part of its strategy to focus on financial services and exit from realty business.

With this deal, Bengaluru-based developer Embassy Group sought to enter into Mumbai and Delhi-NCR markets, the two biggest property markets in the country.