BPCL ESPS Trust sells 0.3% stake in BPCL for around Rs 400 crore; several FPIs pick shares
BPCL ESPS Trust on Wednesday sold a 0.3% stake in Bharat Petroleum Corporation through the open market for around Rs 400 crore.
The trust sold 68,36,948 shares at Rs 584 apiece, block deals data showed. Shares of the state-owned oil refiner ended 7.3% higher on the National Stock Exchange at Rs 626.95.
The company had informed exchanges on Tuesday that the trust is likely to offload shares through the open market.
“The Board of Directors of BPCL has approved the sale of up to 68,36,948 equity shares held by BPCL ESPS Trust in accordance with the BPCL Employee Stock Purchase Scheme 2020 and Sebi (Share Based Employee Benefits and Sweat Equity) Regulations, 2021,” BPCL said in an exchange filing.
Meanwhile, several domestic mutual funds and foreign institutional and portfolio investors bought shares of the PSU refiner through block deals.
Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund purchased 22,50,000 shares at Rs 584 each, and Motilal Oswal MF acquired 13,00,000 shares at the same price. Goldman Sachs bought 430,559 shares of BPCL, while Abu Dhabi Investment Authority bought 700,000.
The other major buyers were Invesco MF, Plutus Wealth Management, Jupiter India Fund, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Co, Morgan Stanley, and Societe Generale.
The PSU major last month reported its earnings for the December quarter, with the net profit surging 73.4% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 3,397.30 crore. Revenue from operations, net of excise duty, however, declined 3% YoY to Rs 1.15 lakh crore.
For the nine months ended December, the PSU oil
