Mico announces buy-back offer

However, this would not amount to a change in management as the parent already holds 51 per cent of Mico8217;s paid up capital of Rs 38.05 crore, it said adding that the company had applied to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board FIPB seeking its approval quot;for the said consequential increase in the percentage holding of Robert Bosch in the companyquot;.

Financial institutions, insurance companies, nationalised banks and foreign institutional investors hold approximately 35 per cent of the equity,with the remaining 15 per cent held by retail investors.

Accordingly, the scrip, which is listed on the National Stock Exchange and the Mumbai and Bangalore exchanges, has witnessed low trading volumes. Percentage of actively traded shares in these three exchanges to total number of shares amounted to a mere 0.72 per cent so far this year, 1.91 per cent in 1998, 2.35 per cent in 1997 and 3.94 per cent in 1996.

The cumulative traded volume of shares, since 1996, amounts to only 8.92 per cent of Mico8217;s outstanding shares and as a result may have hindered some of the shareholders in disinvesting their holdings, the company said adding that this enables shareholders to liquidate some of their holding.

Given the accumulated free reserves and satisfactory liquidity position, the company felt the return on these financial investments does not compare favourably with the return on equity for the company and hence the buy-back offer was an opportunity to return some of the accumulated reserves and cash availableto its shareholders.