RIL, Tatas top consolidation club in India Inc

The country’s two largest business conglomerates, Reliance Group and Tata Group, have emerged as the largest investors in the first 11 ...

The country’s two largest business conglomerates, Reliance Group and Tata Group, have emerged as the largest investors in the first 11 months of the current fiscal by putting in close to Rs 3,241 crore in the corporate sector.

These two groups together invested more than 50 per cent of Rs 6,300 crore, which was spent by the entire corporate sector on either consolidating their holding in a group company or taking over another company.

The Indian corporate sector has taken the maximum advantage of the global economic slowdown and its resultant impact on the economy. According to data released by Sebi, during April 2002-February 2003, the market saw 84 offerings through which the acquirers either consolidated their holdings or took over the management of another company.

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The Reliance Group topped the list by investing Rs 1,890 crore for consolidating its holding in power major BSES Ltd and acquiring controlling stake in PSU petrochemical major IPCL. The Reliance group acquired IPCL for Rs 1,146.80 crore, while it consolidated its holding in BSES for Rs 742.79 crore.

The Tata Group put in Rs 1,351 crore for acquiring international telecom carrier VSNL and for gaining management control over Hughes Tele.com, which has now been renamed as Tata Indicom. It spent Rs 1,151 crore to acquire VSNL, while it shelled out Rs 199.83 crore for Hughes Tele. Another big industrial house, Aditya Birla Group, invested Rs 304 crore to consolidate its holding in one of the group companies and acquiring another one.

The Birla Group consolidated its holding in Indian Aluminium Co Ltd (Indal) through Hindalco by acquiring 18.18 lakh shares at Rs 120 per share for Rs 218.19 crore. One of its group companies also acquired Madura Coats for Rs 86.67 crore.

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