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Was Onne van der Weijde, managing director of Ambuja Cements, right when on Wednesday he told in the conference call that market would agree with Holcim's deal restructuring and come to same conclusion?
It seems like at least if one goes by some sort of recovery in Ambuja shares on Friday's trade. It appears as if investors are coming slowly, if not fully, in tandem with Holcim's ownership restructuring process of its Indian operations. Thanks to Onne's continuous meetings with investors post deal announcement.
Among the 50-stocks Nifty, Ambuja was the top gainer today as it gained 5% or Rs 7.85 to close the trade at Rs 178.85 against the previous close of Rs 171. Rather, in intra-day session the counter hit a high of Rs 184.
Such a movement has defied brokerages' downgrades and deep cuts in target prices. Some targets were as low as Rs 137. The bounce back came on a day when benchmark indices declined 0.4%. Stocks of ACC, too, were up and closed 1.4% higher at Rs 1,211.90 after hitting a high of Rs 1,220.20 during the day.
Two days after announcing the ownership restructuring, Ambuja's managing director Onne is still busy in back-to-back meetings with investors with a purpose of simplifying the complex deal and its advantages.
Ever since Weijde announced the "complex" structuring of Holcim's Indian operations, he might not have had as many meetings earlier as he is currently engaged with. Onne is trying his best to please institutional investors, analysts and other investors.
And rightly so. This is a need of the hour as sector experts had given a thumbs down sending shares of Ambuja and ACC down 10% and 3%, respectively on Thursday.
Market participants were quick to term the latest proposed deal under various names such as 'non-sense deal', 'fraud', 'siphoning off Ambuja's cash' and 'day light robbery' among others. This has made it a tough task for Onne to explain it to investors and he currently has a hectic schedule of back-to-back meetings with investors.
