R-Power mulls bonus shares

In an unprecedented move, Anil Ambani Group company Reliance Power will give free bonus shares to all its shareholders to compensate the losses they suffered when the company was listed a week ago.

"Reliance Power board will consider issuing free bonus shares to all shareholders excluding the promoters," a group spokesperson said.

On the day of its listing at Rs 547.80 a share, Reliance Power performed miserably at the stock exchanges and closed the day nearly 32% lower.

The IPO had attracted a total demand of about Rs 7,50,000 crore and the company had issued the shares at Rs 450 while giving a discount Rs 20 a share to retail investors.

A board meeting of Reliance Power would be held next Sunday, February 24, to consider issuance of free bonus shares, the company informed the stock exchanges today.

"From the time of opening of initial public offer of Reliance Power on January 15, the Sensex was down 13% while the Reliance Power stock was down 11% from the IPO price for retail investors, and 15% for other categories of investors," the company said in a statement.

The company said that the decline in share price has been compounded by "a vicious and orchestrated campaign of market manipulation and market abuse unleashed by rival corporate interests," it said.

The campaign was to hammer down all Reliance ADA group stocks in an attempt to undermine its fair name and reputation and cause losses to millions of genuine investors, the statement added.

Reliance Power has formally written to market regulator SEBI seeking an investigation into the same.