Reliance enigma lives on

The Reliance empire has virtually halved to settle the dispute between the two Ambani brothers, but Reliance Industries (RIL) continues to attract investors who flocked to the Mukesh Ambani-controlled blue chip company as was evident from six crore shares changing hands in a single hour of special trading today.

The new-look RIL scrip, which evoked extremely good response from investors during the special trading to discover the price of the company after it hived off its power, telecom and finance businesses, has unlocked value for shareholders besides providing them liquidity.

Shareholders would receive a bouquet of shares in four new companies, created as part of a settlement in the controlling Ambani family, giving them the option of retaining the inherited shares of the separated entities or selling them - a win-win situation for investors.

At the same time, shareholders will continue to enjoy most value for their holdings in RIL, which would now function as a pure petroleum-to-petrochemicals company.

Shares of RIL, however, closed lower by 2.82% today at Rs 693.85 over the close of Rs 715.50 during the special trading this morning.

RIL's market capitalisation on BSE, which was Rs 1,29,000 crore on the previous day, declined to Rs 96,553 crore on account of change in equity following the demerger, according to market sources.

The company, which entered the capital market in 1977 with a market capitalisation of Rs 10 crore, has rewarded its original investors with compounded returns of 43% per annum.