Stocks to Watch: ONGC, Hero MotoCorp, PNB, LTTS, IndiGo, Adani Group

Shares of ONGC are likely to be in focus as the government will sell 1.5 per cent stake in the oil producer through an offer for sale (OFS) over the next two trading sessions at Rs 159 per share.

The key benchmark indices are likely to start trade with strong gains amid hopes of an end to the Ukraine war. Russia on Tuesday promised to scale down military operations around Kyiv and northern Ukraine as a confidence-building step, in the most tangible sign yet of progress towards negotiating an end to the war. 

Global markets rallied overnight, and taking cues from the same, the SGX Nifty as of 07:00 AM, hinted for a strong gain of more than 200 points on the NSE Nifty 50 benchmark at the opening bell. Meanwhile, here are the stocks to focus in trade on Wednesday.

ONGC: The government will sell 1.5 per cent stake in the oil producer through an offer for sale (OFS) on Wednesday, a move that’s expected to shore up the centre’s divestment receipts by over Rs 3,000 crore. OFS for non-institutional investors opens on Wednesday, whereas the offer to sell an additional 94.3 million or 0.75 per cent would open for retail investors on Thursday. The floor price for the sale has been set at Rs 159, at about 7 per cent discount to the stock’s closing price of Rs 171 on Tuesday. READ MORE

Hero MotoCorp: The income tax (I-T) department is learnt to have found that two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp made over Rs 1,000 crore in ‘bogus’ expenses and an unexplained cash transaction of Rs 100 crore involving a property allegedly owned by a promoter of the company. 

Meanwhile, the company has said it plans to increase prices of its motorcycles and scooters by up to Rs 2,000 from April 5, to offset the rise in commodity prices. READ MORE

Tata Consumer Products:  The company on Tuesday announced reorganisation of its India and overseas businesses. The company also proposed to purchase of a 10.15 per cent minority interest in its UK subsidiary, TCP UK, from Tata Enterprise (Overseas), Switzerland, (TEO). READ MORE

IL&FS: The resolution from the IL&FS group is expected at Rs 61,000 crore of the total debt of Rs 99,355 crore, which is almost 62 per cent, said Uday Kotak, who was appointed the non-executive chairman of the company in October 2018 by the government after superseding the board at that time. READ MORE

Adani Group: The Gautam-Adani led Group has concluded financing for the first phase of Navi Mumbai international airport project by raising Rs 12,770-crore loan from the State Bank of India. It plans to commission the airport in 2024.

IndiGo: The low-cost airline has named Gaurav Negi as its chief financial officer and is giving additional responsibilities to chief strategy and revenue officer Sanjay Kumar following two senior level exits. Negi takes over from Jiten Chopra who is leaving the airline to pursue other interests, he is the third CFO at the airline in as many years. READ MORE

SBI Life: Canda Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) on Tuesday sold 0.56 per cent stake in the company for Rs 597 crore.  It sold 5.58 million shares at Rs 1,068.35 apiece. Among the buyers were Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, Avendus, ICICI Prudential MF, Singapore's GIC and Goldman Sachs. 

L&T Technology Services (LLTS): The pure play engineering services unit of the L&T Group is betting big on Meta. The company is setting up a Centre of Excellence for Metaverse as well as creating a business unit for Meta. The CoE will be launched by July-August. READ MORE

IDBI Bank: The private sector lender will offload its balance 25 per cent stake in Ageas Federal Life Insurance Company (AFLI) to Ageas Insurance International NV.  The board of directors has approved to sell IDBI Bank’s entire stake of 200 million equity shares in AFLI to Ageas pursuant to exercise of Call Option by Ageas.  In December 2020, IDBI Bank had sold a 23 per cent stake in an insurance joint venture to Ageas Insurance International JV for Rs 507 crore. 

Further, IDBI Bank plans to raise capital up to Rs 3,000 crore through additional tier I (AT-1) bonds in 2022-23 (FY23) to meet regulatory norms and business growth. It will also raise up to Rs 1,000 crore via infrastructure bonds to fund projects and affordable housing.

Punjab National Bank: The state-run bank’s board has approved a proposal to raise Rs 12,000 crore through issuance of bonds to fund business growth. The board approved raising of capital through issue of Basel III compliant AT-1 bonds up to Rs 5,500 crore and Tier II bonds up to Rs 6,500 crore, in one or more tranches, PNB said in a filing. 

Stocks in F&O ban: PVR, Sun TV and Vodafone Idea are the only stocks in the F&O ban period on Wednesday.