Panyam Cements & Mineral Industries, the Andhra-based cement maker with 1-million tonne capacity, hit the upper limit of the circuit filter of 20 per cent on Monday after a notice on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) said L&T Finance had acquired a 50.56 per cent stake in the company.
However, both the company and L&T Finance denied this, saying the exchange was mistaken. “The company has pledged 50.56 per cent stake as a collateral against about Rs 20 crore loan,” said an L&T Finance spokesperson. “There has not been any acquisition of shares.”
“We have informed the exchange to do a correction,” said Sreedhar Reddy, managing director of Panyam Cement.
L&T Finance, a subsidiary of Larsen and Toubro, took under pledge 8.1 million equity shares of the company from seven promoters on July 5, the company said. The stock opened at Rs 107 and touched the maximum intra-day trade limit of Rs 127. Meanwhile, RBI, on Friday, notified that the aggregate net purchases of equity share holdings in Panyam Cements by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) under the Portfolio Investment Scheme had reached the trigger limit.“Therefore, the company has been included in the ban list of Reserve Bank of India (for purchase of equity shares by FIIs). Accordingly, no further purchases of shares of this company would be allowed through stock exchanges in India on behalf of FIIs” the central bank statement said.