German major Siemens AG, has hiked its stake in its Indian subsidiary to 53 per cent from 51 per cent through buyback.
Siemens executive director H Gelis said at a press conference: "The financial institutions' stake has also increased from 17 per cent to 19 per cent consequent to the buyback. The public holding in the company has fallen to 28 per cent from 32 per cent. Overall, the company has bought back about 5.26 per cent of its shares."
The company had earlier this year announced a buyback programme and capped the price of the buyback at Rs 250 per share. The buyback has been effected at an average price of Rs 198 per share. The company has spent about Rs 36.9 crore of the allocated Rs 80 crore for the buyback.
The company had told shareholders at the time of seeking their nod for the buyback programme that Siemens AG's stake could increase to 60 per cent.
The company had embarked upon the buyback as it was keen on returning money to shareholders in the absence of favourable investment opportunities due to the economic slowdown and the sluggishness in the infrastructure sector to which it has a huge exposure.
