FIIs' holding in ACC on an upswing

The foreign institutional investors' (FIIs') stake in The Associated Cement Companies (ACC) has jumped from 18.08 per cent to 23.4 per cent since June this year.

Three new investors Merrill Lynch, HSBC and Citigroup through different funds have together bought 4.53 per cent of ACC's stake in the last five months.

Ashok K Jain, executive director, ACC, said, "We have received an alert from the Reserve Bank of India for approval of sale of stake to the foreign investors, as the FIIs have been hitting the upper ceiling of 24 per cent recently." Foreign institutions have been evincing a keen interest to increase their stake in the cement major, Jain added.

While HSBC Global Investment Funds' stake in ACC is at 1.38 per cent, Merrill Lynch holds a 1.68 per cent stake and Citigroup's holding stands at 1.47 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, which had lowered its stake from 5.65 per cent on June 30, 2002, to 2.97 per cent in November 2002, has further pruned its stake to 1.33 per cent as on date.