GSK nets `26K crore from HUL stake sale

Over 100 institutions take part in sale

State Bank of India slashed benchmark lending rate (MCLR) by0.15 basis points to 7.25 per cent, and introduced special deposit scheme forsenior citizens with higher interest rate. The bank’s new product 'SBI Wecare Deposit' for senior citizens will fetch an additional 30 bps premium for term deposits with "5years & above" tenor. But SBI slashed interest rates on retail termdeposits by 20 basis points for 'up to 3 years' tenor.

GlaxoSmithkline Plc, promoter of GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare, sold its entire 5.7 per cent stake in Hindustan Uni-lever (HUL) on Thursday in open market to a clutch of foreign and domestic institutional investors.

As per the provisional bulk deal data disclosed by the National Stock Exchange of India, a total of 13.37 crore HUL shares were sold in the price range of Rs 1,902 to Rs 1,913.80 per share, worth about Rs 26,000 crore, on the NSE by the British pharmaceutical company.

The buyers included French portfolio investor Societe Generale, which bought 1.29 crore share at an average price of Rs 1,902 per share.

As per provisional exchange data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net buyers of equities worth Rs 19,056.49 crore on

Thursday, indicating FPIs buying a major part of the HUL stake sale, while the domestic institutions were net buyers by Rs 3,818.41 crore, indicating domestic mutual funds and insurance firms too purchasing HUL shares on sale.

More than 100 institutional investors—80 per cent foreign investors and

20 per cent domestic funds—participated in the deal, a Reuters report said quoting a source.

HUL shares touched a high of Rs 2,007 intra-day but closed the day at Rs

1,998 on the NSE, down by

0.61 per cent.

A GSK statement said the shares were offloaded on average for Rs 1,905.

The transaction comes as GSK pursues a two-year programme to split into two entities after it made costly bets on experimental cancer treatments and future cell and gene therapies amid sluggish revenue growth.

GSK said it would now receive net proceeds of 2.9 billion pounds ($3.59 billion) from the stake sale and the sale of its Bangladesh business, which is expected to close later this year.

It said the recent Hindustan Unilever share price gains led to better than expected sale proceeds.