E*Trade increases IL&FS Invest stake

US brokerage firm E*Trade today hiked its stake in domestic retail brokerage outfit IL&FS Investsmart by 5 per cent to 22.2 per cent.

Taking into account, Bank of New York's 21 per cent stake in IL&FS Investsmart held in ADR/GDR, E*Trade's stake in IL&FS Investsmart has gone up to 43.10 per cent following a market operation.

In a secondary market operation executed through Bank of New York, E*Trade bought 33.65 lakh in the domestic brokerage for Rs 68 crore at Rs 201 a share. The move comes within days of its open offer to buy 20 per cent stake held by public in IL&FS Investsmart on December 1, 2006.

Bank of New York bought the shares held by Fidelity in the domestic broking outfit. Today's market transaction helped the counter flare up by about 3.5 per cent, in an otherwise volatile day. Today's acquisition price is lower by Rs 19 a share compared with open offer price of Rs 210.