Invesco withdraws case against Zee to pursue EGM

Top of the Morning

In this episode, find out about income tax searches at Hero MotoCorp, also find out about HDFC bank’s acquisition of 7.8% stake in ONDC

Business Term of the Day: Share buyback
The ₹18,000-crore share buyback of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was subscribed more than 7.5 times on Wednesday – the last day for tendering of shares. Investors offered 30.12 crore shares during the buyback, which began 9, against the company’s offer of four crore shares. Analysts said the strong participation was because the buyback offer price of ₹4,500 was 21% above the current stock price.   Hero MotoCorp: Income tax searches at the offices Hero Motocorp Ltd and the home of its chief executive, Pawan Munjal, on Wednesday was part of a “routine inquiry”, the company said. “We at Hero MotoCorp are an ethical and law-abiding corporate, and maintain the highest standards of impeccable corporate governance,” it added.   Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is likely to sell up to 40 million shares, or 2.02% of stake, in Kotak Mahindra Bank on Thursday through block deals. The Canadian pension fund will likely raise as much as ₹7,079 crore through the stake sale. The floor price has been fixed at ₹1,681.26 – 1,769.75 apiece.   HDFC Bank: The private sector lender has acquired 7.84% stake in the open public digital infrastructure framework entity ONDC by investing ₹10 crore in the entity. ONDC was incorporated in India on 30 December 2021 and is into creating an open public digital infrastructure to develop and transform the Indian digital commerce ecosystem for both goods and services.   Zomato: The food aggregator plans to roll out more outlets across India’s top cities to scale up its 10-minute delivery service, offering easy-to-deliver items such as patties, desserts, snacks, and tea. Zomato plans to open over 40 stations in Delhi-NCR in the next 90 days, and then expand to Bengaluru and Mumbai. It will target a 1-2 km radius to fulfil the orders.   Ruchi Soya Industries: Has raised ₹1,290 crore from anchor investors ahead of its follow-on public offering (FPO). The FPO of Ruchi Soya will open for publ ic subscription on Thursday to raise up to ₹4,300 crore. The closing date is 28 March. The company offered 1.98 crore equity shares at a price of ₹650 per equity share to anchor investors on Wednesday.   Zee Entertainment’s largest shareholder Invesco on Thursday welcomed the Bombay High Court’s order against Zee as ‘an important reaffirmation of shareholder rights’. In a statement, Invesco announced that it has decided to withdraw its requisition notice that sought the removal of MD and CEO Punit Goenka from the board of ZEE. Invesco also reiterated its support for the proposed merger of ZEE with Sony . Moving on to markets Indian stock markets are likely to be under pressure in early trade today amid weak Asian equities. Nifty futures trading on Singapore exchange (SGX Nifty) was down 0.3% to 17,204. In the previous session, on Wednesday, benchmark BSE Sensex reversed its early gains to close lower by 304 points to settle at 57,684.82. The broader NSE Nifty dipped 69.85 points or 0.4 per cent to finish at 17,245.65 with 29 of its stocks ending in red.   Asian equities were lower today as traders weighed the latest developments in the Ukraine war, oil price surge and more hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials. Brent futures were up about 45 cents, or 0.4%, at $122.05 a barrel   Business Term of the day A share buyback, also known as share repurchase, is a corporate action to buy back its own outstanding shares from its existing shareholders usually at a premium to the prevailing market price. A company might buy back its shares because management considers them undervalued. It can be an alternative tax-efficient way to return money to shareholders