LIC hikes stake in Cairn India

Life Insurance Corporation of India has rejigged its portfolio in several companies ahead of New Year 2013. The companies whose shares were bought and sold by LIC through the open market included Cairn India, Tata Global Beverages and Sanofi India.

According to filings with the BSE, the state-run insurance giant bought about 39.42 crore shares (or 2.06 per cent) in Cairn India taking LIC’s total stake in the company to 7.088 per cent.

These shares were bought between June 19 and December 28.

It, however, pared its stake in pharma company Sanofi India and FMCG Tata Global Beverages. In Sanofi India, it sold about 4.64 lakh shares amounting to a 2.01 per cent stake in the company, diluting its total stake in the company to 3.06 per cent. This sale was carried out between September 18 and December 26.

In Tata Global Beverages, the insurance major sold about 1.28 crore shares (or 2.07 per cent) of the total shares, bringing down its total stake in the company to 7.63 per cent. This sell-off was carried out between August 23 to December 26.

In a recent interview to Business Line, D.K. Mehrotra, Chairman, LIC, mentioned the company’s plans to invest Rs 2.4 lakh crore this fiscal.

“Our investment is based on the performance of the company vis-à-vis their competitors, market scenario, corporate governance, track record and future earning. We normally do not get influenced by internal happenings,” he added.

The Government recently allowed the PSU behemoth to increase its investment limit cap to 30 per cent.

Recently, LIC informed the exchanges that it sold over two per cent stake in Maruti Suzuki India over a period of time. After the sale, LIC’s total holding in the carmaker reduced to a little over 10 per cent.

It had sold a total of 58.29 lakh shares of the company between August 24, 2009 and November 11, 2012 through open market.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/markets/lic-hikes-stake-in-cairn-india/article4259512.ece?ref=wl_companies