R-Power bonus shares at 3:5

The free shares will not be given to promoters.

Reliance Power Ltd, the company, which raised Rs 11,000 crore last month in India's biggest initial public offer (IPO), will issue free shares in a ratio of three shares for every five held to compensate investors for the slump in the stock price after listing.

The free shares won't be given to Chairman Anil Ambani and the founder group, including Reliance Energy Ltd, holding a combined 90 per cent stake.

Reliance Power, which attracted a record Rs 756,000 crore worth of bids, slumped as much as 21 per cent when it listed on February 11 as a global sell-off in equities dried up appetite for new shares. The rout prompted Indian companies to scrap Rs 7,200 crore of initial share sales.

India's benchmark Sensitive Index declined 16 per cent from the day the IPO opened on January 15 until the day before listing. Reliance Power shares have never closed above Rs 450, the maximum offer price. Individual investors had to pay Rs 430 for each share in the IPO.

"I have been personally concerned by the notional losses to millions of our investors as a result of a dramatic adverse change in sentiment in global and domestic capital market after the pricing of our IPO," Ambani said. "The board endorsed my concern and approved the bonus issue."

The bonus issue will reduce the cost of acquiring Reliance Power shares to Rs 269 for individual investors, 40 per cent lower than the IPO price. For large shareholders, the rate will fall to Rs 281 a share, Ambani said.

Anil Ambani's personal holding in Reliance Power will fall to 40 per cent from 45 per cent to enable Reliance Energy's stake in the company to be maintained at 45 per cent. The dilution in his shareholding represents a "contribution" of Rs 5,000 crore in favour of investors in Reliance Energy and Reliance Power, Ambani said.

Business Standard adds: On whether this contribution attracted gift tax or not, corporate lawyers said the tax was not applicable to share transactions.

Reliance Power gained 7.5 per cent on February18, the most since listing, after the bonus plan was announced. The stock closed 1.2 per cent lower at Rs 416.85 in Mumbai trading on February 22.

The unit of Reliance Energy Ltd, India's second-largest power producer, sold out its record Indian initial share sale in less than a minute. Anil Ambani embarked on the Reliance Power IPO following a break with brother Mukesh and the splitting up of the Reliance empire founded by father Dhirubhai Ambani.

Meanwhile, Reliance Power has sought an enquiry by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the market regulator, into "hammering" of the stock price, Ambani said.

"Seven Mauritius-based investors went on selling within 4 minutes of the listing even when the market was falling," he said. "I can understand people selling when the price is rising. There's more than meets the eye."

The company plans to set up 13 plants with 28,200 Mw of generating capacity in five years, a third of India's planned new projects. Ambani, who will use the money to fund his $28 billion plan, became the second-richest man in India after his Reliance Energy quadrupled in value last year.

The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group has filed to sell shares in Reliance Infratel Ltd, the transmission-tower unit of Reliance Communications Ltd, India's second-largest operator of wireless services. The company plans to sell 89.1 million shares, or 10.1 per cent of Reliance Infratel, according to a release sent to the Bombay Stock Exchange on February 4.

"There's no rethink on the IPO. We're waiting to hear from Sebi," Ambani said.