Franklin Templeton Investment Funds(FTIF), a foreign institutional investor (FII), could emerge as the second significant investor in the auction of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) shares two weeks ago. FTIF's holding shot up over 1%, according to a company filing late on Monday, suggesting that the fund bought significant shares in the government's auction.
FTIF was holding 90.93 million shares or 1.06% in ONGC as on March 9, 2012 according to the filing. Franklin's holding did not reflect in the quarterly disclosure in December since it held less than 1%. ONGC also gave a new figure of LIC's holding in the company furthering the confusion over how many shares the insurer bought in the auction. According to ONGC, LIC now held 664 million or 7.7% in the company.
