Retail investors miss out on REC offer for sale

Most retail investors failed to get any allotment in the Rural Electrification Corp (REC) offer for sale (OFS) conducted last week. Most retail bids were made around the floor price of Rs 315, while the allotment price was nearly Rs 330. The retail segment for the first time saw aggressive bidding and was subscribed nine times.

"Most investors bid low and were not able to revise their bid prices later. Also, a lot of HNIs made applications in the retail category and pocketed a neat 5 per cent arbitrage," said a broker.

Pramerica joins the Deutsche Mutual Fund sale race

The race to buy Deutsche Mutual Fund is getting hotter by the day. Since January, YES Bank was the only one doing due-diligence. Industry sources said Pramerica has also joined the race since late March. "For YES Bank, it will be a good entry point because it will become number 20 in terms of average assets under management. For Pramerica, it means a significant rise in the pecking order as it has collected Rs 2,300 crore since its launch," said an industry player. As in March 2015, Deutsche Mutual Fund was managing Rs 22,000 crore of assets.

'Bright lines' to deal with 'control' conundrum

The regulator is taking notice of representations asking for more clarity on what defines 'control' over a company. Currently, the definition is based on a set of defined principles, rather than any set rules. The application of these principles seem open to multiple interpretations of the term when someone buys a chunk in a listed company. Whether or not the control has been acquired can significantly increase the cost of acquisition, leading to a lot of confusion. It is an issue the regulator is looking to address, according to its last board meeting minutes. Sebi is now looking to define 'bright lines' which would provide a single objective application of the word control.