Linde India falls as promoter to pare stake through OFS

Linde India fell 2.73% to Rs 254.80 at 10:44 IST on BSE as the company's foreign promoter would pare its stake in the company tomorrow, 16 May 2013 to comply with listing norms.

The announcement was made after market hours on Tuesday, 14 May 2013.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 329.11 points, or 1.67%, to 20,051.40.

On BSE, 788 shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 34,130 shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 258 and a low of Rs 252 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 473.95 on 11 September 2012. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 230.20 on 17 April 2013.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 14 May 2013, falling 2.4% compared with the Sensex's 8.11% gain. The scrip also underperformed the market in past one quarter, sliding 16.64% as against Sensex's 1.15% rise.

The small-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 85.28 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

Promoters of Linde India, The BOC Group said it would launch an offer for sale (OFS) tomorrow, 16 May 2013 for an aggregate 1.23 crore shares representing around 14.5% equity share capital of Linde India, through the stock exchanges. The OFS would open at 9:15 IST and shall close at 15:30 IST on the same day. The floor price for the OFS will be declared after market hours today, 15 May 2013.

On 11 April 2013, the foreign promoter had proposed to sell a portion of its equity shares in the company to comply with the minimum public shareholding as per Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) guidelines. The BOC Group owned 89.48% stake in Linde India as on 31 March 2013. As per the norms stipulated by the market regulator Sebi, privately promoted companies are expected to boost public shareholding to atleast 25% by 30 June 2013.

Linde India's net profit fell 67.2% to Rs 5.86 crore on 6.5% rise in net sales to Rs 320.31 crore in Q1 March 2013 over Q1 March 2012.

Linde India, formerly BOC India, is the leader in gases business in India. It provides a one-stop solution to all businesses for gas supply and related equipment and services.

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