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The individual investor, whose name emerged among the top shareholders in the troubled-Wockhardt for twelve quarters in a row since September, 2010, is finally out of the game.
Thanks to the free fall in share prices of the drug maker which lost a massive 80% of the value by August - within few months after hitting an all-time high of Rs 2,115 in March this year.
Three years ago, Laxmi Shivanand Mankekar, who started accumulating shares of Wockhardt at sub Rs 300 levels in 2010, took a sizeable chunk of 1.01% stake in September, 2010. With that, she became the third largest shareholder in the public category after LIC of India (4.22%) and LIC of India Money Plus (1.21%).
For many, 1% stake is an invincible level, but Mankekar did not stop there. In the immediate following quarter, she scaled the stake further up by another 60 basis points (bps) to 1.61% during which Wockhardt's stocks, on an average, traded below Rs 400 mark. This holding, she continued with till September, 2011 before taking yet another stake buy to push her holdings to 1.87% when shares continued to trade almost at the same levels.
Then came the second buy and this time her holdings hit 1.98% mark by March, 2012 during which stocks of the drug manufacturer had surged close to Rs 600.
By this time, Wockhardt's counter on stock exchanges had already doubled since she acquired more than a percentage stake in the company during July-September, 2010.
But even here she chose not to book profits and took the last buy call and raised holding by a mere 3 basis point to take it above 2% points by June last year to 2.01%. The average traded price of Wockhardt during Mankekar's acquisition phase stood at around Rs 405.
It was the climax and Wockhardt shares had surpassed Rs 900 mark - three times the level during September in 2010.
Mankekar, though, may have reached the top most level of her investment in Wockhardt but stocks of the company were still at more than half of the level it was heading to.
Within a quarter, shares jumped to Rs 1,300 but Mankekar sold only 0.02% of her holdings and kept the most. To her fortune, the hold call did not go wrong and Wockhardt kept galloping on exchanges and at one point of time crossed the Rs 1,700 mark during October-December, 2012.
By now, Wockhardt had proved to be a multi-bagger as share prices were about to hit 6 times within a span of two years. Instead of booking profits completely, Mankekar yet again was patient and pared holdings by only 0.07% points to 1.92%.
This year began on a positive note and on 12 March the counter after hitting an intra-day high of Rs 2,166 closed at Rs 2,114.75. But the counter could not sustain at those levels and by March-end slipped to close at Rs 2,005. Surprisingly, (a over confident) Mankekar held on and did not dilute her stake, unaware of what's the future of the flying counter.
Stage was all set for the damage to begin.
Habil Khorakiwala, in his speech to shareholders in company's latest annual general meeting, was frank enough to say, "I would like to begin by addressing the questions that I am sure are uppermost in your mind with respect to the challenges your company has been facing in the light of recent events."
Further, he stated that the unfortunate observations against one manufacturing facility have been a complete surprise. "Admittedly, it is an inexcusable lapse, but we have taken swift and definitive action, both corrective and pre-emptive," he added.
By June-end, counter slipped to Rs 1,000 mark - a steep erosion of 50% in the quarter. Mankekar rushed to liquidate her position on the counter and cut stake by a massive 92 basis points and came back to 1.01% - the level she started in September, 2010. But it appears she could not cut stake as fast as the counter slipped.
As a result, when in the initial part of the gone by quarter counter tanked to Rs 345, it seems Mankekar either felt forced to completely or partially square off her holdings on the stock.
In the latest share holding pattern, her name is missing.
| Table : Showing Mankekar's holding percentage in Wockhardt | ||||
| Quarter | Stake in Wockhardt (%) | |||
| Sep,10 | 1.01 | |||
| Dec,10 | 1.61 | |||
| Mar,11 | 1.61 | |||
| Jun, 11 | 1.61 | |||
| Sep, 11 | 1.61 | |||
| Dec,11 | 1.87 | |||
| Mar, 12 | 1.98 | |||
| Jun, 12 | 2.01 | |||
| Sep,12 | 1.99 | |||
| Dec,12 | 1.92 | |||
| Mar, 13 | 1.92 | |||
| Jun,13 | 1.01 | |||
| Sep,13 | NA | |||
| Source : BSE | ||||
