Infosys founders dilute stakes

Mumbai: The shares of Infosys plunged sharply on Monday after some of the company’s founders including N. Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani along with their family members sold 32.6 million shares worth Rs 6,484 crores constituting around 2.8 per cent of the outstanding shares.

The sale of shares was executed at an average price of Rs 1,988. The shares were sold to both foreign and domestic institutional investors. Deutsche Bank, which acted as the sole broker for the sale of shares said that the sale has been done to partially monetise their (promoters) stake, after more than three decades of nurturing the company, for personal reasons including for the betterment of society through various philanthropic activities.

Following the stake sale, the shares of Infosys tanked as much as 5.37 per cent in  intra-day trade before ending the day at Rs 1,968.60, losing Rs 101 or 4.88 per cent.

“The general weakness in the market coupled with the news flow that the founding members of Infosys had sold a significant stake led to major weakness in Infosys shares on Monday. It seems, all is not well with the company. During the last few quarters, we have been seeing changes in the top management and large attrition of employees. Probably, the market now feels that this stake sale is a continuation of the earlier issues due to which the promoters are encashing their stock before things worsens further,” said Arun Kejriwal, director, Kejriwal Research and Investment Service (KRIS).