The SpiceJet counter has seen a surge in trading volumes since mid-April, sparking speculation over the identity of the buyers. Some market players have even gone to the extent of comparing this with similar stock accumulation of Air Deccan stocks just before it was bought by Kingfisher last year.
The accumulation started on March 26, when the stock of SpiceJet, India's second largest budget airline, fell to Rs 37.90 from its all-time high of Rs 104.80 on January 8. The March 26 level was close to the scrip's one-year low of Rs 36 on May 9 last year.
The scrip closed at Rs 39.50, down 6.8 per cent, on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Friday.
In the 12 trading sessions between March 26 and April 14, over 11.4 million stocks of SpiceJet were traded on the BSE, out of which 6.5 million were delivered. That gave an average of 0.95 million stocks traded and 0.5 million stocks delivered per day in that period.
However, in the 15 trading sessions since April 15 till May 7, the volume of stocks traded reached over 43.3 million against 21.3 million delivered stocks. That amounts to an average of 3.6 million stocks traded per day in the period and 1.4 million stocks delivered. This is roughly four times the volume of stock traded from the previous period and three times in the number of stocks delivered.
Of the over 240.65 million shares of SpiceJet, the overseas promoter group, Royal Holdings Services, holds 12.91 per cent. Foreign institutional investors hold 12.44 per cent stake, while the mutual funds hold 11.69 per cent. The Indian public and others hold 14.85 and 27.75% shares, respectively.
The identity of the buyers are not known as no block or bulk deal has been reported. When one buys a 0.5 per cent or more of the total equity of a company in a day, the stock exchange has to be informed about the identity of the buyer.
"A buyer can accumulate stocks on a daily basis without striking a bulk deal," said Yogesh Radke, an analyst with Mumbai-based brokerage Edelweiss Securities.
"Some investors are buying as the stock has reached close to its one-year low. The accumulation is being done either by players who are interested in buying the airlines, or by those who expect to be benefitted when the open offer is made by the buyer," he said.
