Tata Consultancy Services gains after setting buyback record date

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) posted its biggest single-day gain in over two months on Thursday after the country’s largest software exporter announced the record date for its Rs 17,000 crore share buyback.

Shares of TCS rose 2.72 per cent to end at Rs 3,497 on the NSE, where shares worth nearly Rs 1,400 crore changed hands. The Tata group flagship has fixed November 25 as the record date for determining the entitlement and the names of the equity shareholders who shall be eligible to participate in the buyback.

The company has set a buyback price of Rs 4,150, nearly 19 per cent higher than the last close.

Market players said the shares gained after retail investors rushed to buy the stock on hopes of pocketing arbitrage gains.

TCS is conducting the buyback through the tender route, where 15 per cent of the shares have to be acquired from small shareholders—those holding shares worth less than Rs 200,000. Analysts believe the entitlement ratio for small shareholders could be around 20 per cent.