Pipavav Defence spurts on buzz M&M will buy majority stake

Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company rose 8.91% to Rs 69.65 at 11:54 IST on BSE on a media report that Mahindra & Mahindra will purchase a majority stake in the company.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 81.72 points, or 0.29%, to 28,452.25.

On BSE, so far 74.80 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 11.80 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 74.40 so far during the day, which is also a 52-week high for the counter. The stock hit a low of Rs 67 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 33.25 on 26 March 2014.

The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 11 February 2015, rising 12.79% compared with 3.92% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 60.48% as against Sensex's 2.24% rise.

The mid-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 736.21 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

According to the reports, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) will purchase a majority stake in Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering (Pipavav Defence) for roughly Rs 3000 crore at Rs 66 a share in a three-phase deal. Along with debt of around Rs 6800 crore and fresh equity that will be issued, the deal is seen as having an enterprise value of Rs 12000 crore, the report added

In the first phase, Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS) will purchase a 19% stake in Pipavav Defence from the founders, Chairman Nikhil Gandhi and his younger brother and Managing Director Bhavesh Gandhi, who own about 45% of the company. Later, Pipavav Defence will issue preferential shares to the acquirer to raise the latter's stake to 40%. In the third phase, MDS will make an open offer to purchase an additional 26% stake from the public to abide by takeover guidelines, the report indicated.

The ruling BJP government has grand plans to strengthen the country's defence capabilities while also increasing local procurement of equipment.

The government on 26 August 2014, notified increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) limit to 49% through approval route in the defence sector.

As on 31 December 2014, promoters owned 44.50% stake in Pipavav Defence.

Pipavav Defence will announce Q3 results on 13 February 2015. The company reported net loss of Rs 68.33 crore in Q2 September 2014 as against net profit of Rs 4.54 crore in Q2 September 2013. Net sales declined 74.13% to Rs 208.17 crore in Q2 September 2014 over Q2 September 2013.

Pipavav Defence is an integrated defence, heavy engineering and offshore oil & gas assets construction company.

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