Stocks to Watch: Axis Bank, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Max Health

Shares of Max Healthcare will be in focus as reports said private equity fund KKR will sell $500 million worth of shares in the company via a block deal on March 31.

The markets are likely to start the last trading session of the current financial year FY22 on a quiet note. As of 06:55 AM, the SGX Nifty April futures quoted at 17,590 – indicating a marginal gain of 30-odd points on the NSE Nifty50 benchmark.

Here are some stocks to watch out for in trade today: 

Axis Bank: Axis Bank, the third-largest private sector lender in the country, will buy the retail business of Citibank India in an all-cash deal for Rs 12,325 crore. This is the biggest deal in the banking space since the acquisition of ING Vysya Bank by Kotak Mahindra Bank in 2014, which was valued at Rs 15,000 crore. Read here 

Tata Motors: TPG RISE Climate TopGun (TPG), a private equity fund, has subscribed to 3,75,00,000 compulsorily convertible preference shares of the face value of Rs 1,000 each in company's subsidiary, Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, for an aggregate consideration of Rs 3,750 crore as the first tranche of the potential investment aggregating Rs 7,500 crore, announced by the company in October 2021. 

CEAT & Apollo Tyres: The country’s antitrust agency on Wednesday raided offices of tyre companies, including Germany's Continental AG and India's Apollo Tyres, and Ceat, in a case of suspected competition law violations, as per Reuters. Read here

Telecom: Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea reported a month on month fall in mobile subscribers while Bharti Airtel reported gains in January as per data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday. Reliance Jio saw a drop for the second consecutive month as its customer base declined by 9.3 million to 406.3 million. Vodafone Idea continued its losing streak as it shed 389,082 subscribers. It ended the month at 265.12 million customers. Airtel’s subscriber numbers increased by 714,199 to 356.4 million.Read more 

Tata Steel: The steel major on Wednesday said it will acquire ferro alloys producing assets of Odisha-based Stork Ferro and Mineral Industries for Rs 155 crore in an all-cash deal. Moreover, it has also transferred its entire stake in SEZ to Tata Steel Utilities.  

MaxHealthcare: As per reports, private equity fund KKR will sell $500 million worth of shares in Max Healthcare via a block deal on March 31. The stake would be offloaded by Kayak Investment, which is the KKR-affiliated entity that has invested in the healthcare company. It will sell the stake with base size of $375 million or Rs 2,800 crore, 

ONGC: The company's offer for sale (OFS) garnered 303 million bids from investors--1.6 times of 188.7 million shares put on the block by the government. The two-day issue will close on March 31. The government has decided to exercise the oversubscription option to the extent of additional 9.4 crore equity shares, in addition to 9.4 crore equity shares of the company. Accordingly, close to 19 million shares, worth Rs 300 crore, reserved for retail investors will be auctioned on Thursday. 

Nazara Technologies: Subsidiary Nazara Pte Ltd (Nazara Singapore) will invest $2.5 million in BITKRAFT Funds, out of which $0.875 million will be invested upfront while the balance investment amount of $1.625 million will be deployed over a period of three years.

India Glycols: The company said it will commission operations of Goarkahpur unit by May 15. The delay has been caused due to covid-19 pandemic. 

Godrej Properties: The company has bought 9 acre land in Pune for a housing project with an estimated revenue of Rs 1,400 crore.

Pidilite Industries: The NCLT has approved merger of Pidilite Adhesives into the company. 

Cosmo Films: It has announced expansion by setting up CPP film production line at Aurangabad with annual rated capacity of 25,000 MT. Investment of about Rs 140 crores will be funded through internal accruals and debts. 

Hindustan Aeronautics: The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday approved the procurement of 15 Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) for Rs 3,887 crore from the company, for the Indian Air Force. 

Bharat forge: Board to meet on April 2 to consider raising funds

Mangalam Cement: Promoter Vidula Consultancy Services acquired 2.26 lakh equity shares in the company via open market transactions. With this, its shareholding in the company stands at 9.92 percent, up from 9.1 percent earlier. 

Stocks in F&O ban: Vodafone Idea is under the F&O ban for March 31.