Institutional investors dump Amtek Auto

The sell-off in Amtek Auto shares continued last week, with marquee foreign investors Goldman Sachs, Swiss Finance Corporation and Barclays selling shares of the company. In addition, at least two mutual fund houses sold their entire stakes. Incidentally during the June quarter, the foreign institutional investors' holding in Amtek had nearly halved to 18.8 per cent, while domestic institutional investors had more than tripled to 16.5 per cent. The company's share price is already down 80 per cent in the past month.

MF sector upset with JPMorgan AMC

Top players in the mutual fund sector are upset with JPMorgan Asset Management Company's decision to cap redemptions. They believe the situation was avoidable and panic buttons would not have been pressed if the fund house had continued to redeem investors. Some also believe the fund house could have taken the loss on its books and recovered the money later on from the company. A chief executive of a financial conglomerate says his asset reconstruction company (ARC) had valued the Amtek Auto debt paper at Rs 100 crore (50 per cent discount to JPMorgan's exposure). However, with the fund house declaring there are problems, ARCs will try to reduce the price further. "All these events tarnish the image of the industry and lead to more micro-management by the regulator," says the chief executive officer.

BSE Brokers' Forum's GIFT city plans

The BSE Brokers' Forum has recently purchased 500,000 sq ft of FSI in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City. The project has been pre-sold to 105 members and construction for the 30-storey building is expected to begin in a couple of months. "The architects have been appointed and the project management team is in place. The forum is in advance talks with contractors," said a person familiar with the matter. Several brokers from Ahmedabad and other cities plan to shift base here. Others plan to shift their back offices or lease the premises till financial activity picks up, he added.