Bajaj Auto announce share buyback, the first time since 2000

Top of the Morning

In this episode, find out about RIL-Apollo’s race for Boots pharma chain, also find out about ADIA’s Rs 2200 crore investment in IIFL Home Finance

Business Term of the Day: Repo linked lending rate

Title – Bajaj Auto announce share buyback, the first time since 2000

Description – In this episode, find out about RIL-Apollo’s race for Boots pharma chain, also find out about ADIA’s Rs 2200 crore investment in IIFL Home Finance

Business Term of the Day:  Repo linked lending rate

 

 

A consortium of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and buyout firm Apollo Global Management Inc. has emerged as the strongest contender to acquire Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.’s Boots pharmacies unit in the UK, two people directly aware of the matter said. The consortium has valued the assets in the range of $7-8 billion, the people said, without specifying the exact bid. Walgreens, based in a suburb of Chicago, put its Boots business on the block in December, seeking a valuation of $8.8 billion. The US drugstore chain also runs more than 2,200 Boots pharmacies across the UK, Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand, and Indonesia.

IIFL Finance has bagged a mega deal on Thursday with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) to invest a massive ₹2,200 crore for the purchase of 20 stake in the wholly-owned subsidiary IIFL Home Finance. y. IIFL Home Finance established in 2006  has created assets under management to the tune of ₹23,617 crore. The company is one of the India’s largest affordable housing finance companies. IIFL Finance said this would be one of the largest equity investments in the affordable housing finance segment in India by a financial investor.

Indian startups should constantly evaluate the build-up of risks and vulnerabilities in order to make their businesses sustainable in the long-term, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said on Thursday. Das spoke at an event organised by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. His comments come at a time when startups are finding it difficult to raise fresh funds following a number of factors, including the Russia-Ukraine war. This has led to several startups laying off employees as they attempt to cut operational costs.

Kotak The private sector lender announced a 0.50 per cent increase in savings account interest rate for deposits of over Rs 50 lakh to 4 per cent, a day after RBI hiked the policy rate to tame inflation. Term deposit rates have also been increased by up to 0.25 per cent.

Bajaj Auto: The two-wheeler maker said that the Board of Directors on June 14 will consider a proposal for buyback of fully paid-up equity shares of the company. If any, then it would be the first buyback announcement, by the company since 2000. HDFC: The country’s largest mortgage lender announced a hike in its retail prime lending rate on home loans by 50 basis points. Shriram Transport Finance Company: The leading NBFC said it has secured long-term funding of $250 million from the US International Development Finance Corporation. The external commercial borrowing (ECB) is a fixed-rate 10-year loan under STFC’s social finance framework.

Welspun Enterprises: The infrastructure firm said it has executed definitive agreements with Actis Highway Infra to sell its portfolio of operating highway projects for an aggregate enterprise value (EV) of approximately Rs 6,000 crore.

Omaxe: The fuel retailing joint venture between Reliance Industries and supermajor BO – will set up EV charging and battery swapping stations at properties of real estate developer Omaxe in 12 cities as it looks to take mobility solutions to doorstep of users. Omaxe will be a partner in establishing a battery charging ecosystem for electrical vehicles.

Moving on to markets

 

A negative start is likely for Indian equity markets amidst weak global cues.  SGX Nifty Futures quoted at 16,240 levels, indicating a cut of 238-odd points on the Nifty50.

All eyes will be on the US inflation data as it will set tone for the US Federal Reserve meet scheduled next week, on June 15.

Globally, the US markets saw a sharp decline as investors’ anxiety heightened ahead of the inflation data. The S&P 500 slid 2.3 per cent, while Dow Jones fell 1.9 per cent, and NASDAQ dropped 2.7 per cent. Besides that, european markets too, closed lower after the European Central Bank (ECB) indicated at a first rate hike in 11 years at their next monetary policy committtee meet in July.

Prices of crude oil eased from their high as parts of Shanghai returned to lockdown after a week of reopening. While Brent Crude eased to $123 per barrel, WTI Crude hovered at $122 a barrel.

Business Term of the day

Repo linked lending rate (RLLR): From October 1, 2019, all new floating rate personal or retail loans such as your car or home loans that are sanctioned by banks will have to be linked to external benchmarks, and the central bank’s repo rate is one of them. Every bank will have its own Repo linked lending rate or RLLR which will keep varying each time the Reserve Bank of India or the RBI revises the repo rate., repo rate is the rate at which banks borrow from the RBI. The central bank reviews the repo rate on a bi-monthly basis through its Monetary Policy Committee or MPC.