Dalmia picks 1% in IOB

Abhishek Dalmia of the AH Dalmia group, the Delhi-based big time investor, is believed to have acquired nearly one per cent of the total paid-up equity of Indian Overseas Bank (IOB). According to market sources, he has been an active buyer in the counter over the past one month.

Dalmia was the chief architect of the takeover bid made by his company UIL on Gesco Corporation, in October 2000.

According to a source, "Abhishek Dalmia bought 4 lakh shares from a broker in Delhi on Friday, and in the last seven trading sessions, he has picked up around 12 lakh IOB shares."

He currently holds around 1 per cent equity of IOB, the source revealed. In the last one month, the stock has gained 18.91 per cent from Rs 38.60 on February 9, 2004 to touch an all-time high of Rs 46.25 in intra-day trading before closing at Rs 45.90 on Tuesday with volumes of 16.88 lakh shares on the BSE.

Dalmia, said, "We have no significant investments in IOB. We had made some investments in the bank but it is not even 1 per cent of the company." Interestingly, Reliance MF is also believed to be active buyer on the IOB counter and has picked around 30 lakh shares in the last few trading sessions.

S C Gupta, chairman and managing director, Indian Overseas Bank, said he was not aware of any such concerted buying in IOB counter. He, however, justified the interest in the bank saying that the bank is backed by good fundamentals and its share prices are comparatively undervalued.