Stocks to Watch: ONGC, ACC, Titagarh Wagons, Hindustan Copper, BoI

ONGC: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has signed six contracts for Discovered Small Fields (DSF) offshore, with three each for fields in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, the company said on Saturday. The contracts were obtained under the DSF-III bid round. These include four contract areas as sole bidders and two contract areas in partnership with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), said a statement issued by the ONGC.

Titagarh Wagons: The Italian government and a UAE-based private equity firm have together picked up almost 44 per cent stake in Titagarh Wagons’ fully-owned subsidiary Firema SpA, a top company official said on Sunday. The company saw a “recapitalisation of Euro 20 million through fresh equity infusion”, raising the total capital to Euro 33 million, he said. Invitalia, the Italian government’s investment promotion agency, pumped in Euro 10 million for a 30.30 per cent stake, and the UAE-based PE firm – Hawk Eye DMCC – picked up a 13.64 per cent shareholding for Euro 4.5 million, the company official said.

Hindustan Copper: State-owned Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL) is considering increasing its copper ore production to 12.2 million tonnes per annum by FY29 in its first phase of expansion. The company’s copper ore production was 3.57 million tonnes (MT) in FY22. “HCL has plans to increase its mining capacity from its current level ore production to 12.2 million tonnes per annum in phase-I in next 7 to 8 years,” the public sector unit said.

ACC Cement/Ambuja Cement: Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group and Asia’s richest man, his son Karan and nephew Pranav, will join the boards of two of India’s oldest cement companies, ACC Ltd and Ambuja Cements Ltd, in an overhaul of the top management and board of the two cement makers, two people directly familiar with the matter said. Some long-serving board members of the two cement makers will step down following the takeover of Holcim India’s ownership in the two firms by Adani Group.

Reliance Industries: Reliance Petroleum Retail Limited on Saturday executed definitive documents to acquire the polyester business of Shubhalakshmi Polyesters Limited for a cash consideration of ₹1,522 crore. The RIL arm will also buy the polyester business of Shubhlaxmi Polytex Limited for ₹70 crore. The aggregate value of the two acquisitions is ₹1,592 crore by way of slump sale on a going concern basis, RIL said in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges.

IRB InvIT Fund: IRB InvIT Fund on Friday said it is set to acquire the Vadodara Kim Expressway hybrid annuity model (HAM) project in Gujarat from its sponsors IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited at an equity value of ₹342 crore. IRB InvIT Fund in a statement said the project is part of the upcoming Delhi-Mumbai eight-lane greenfield expressway. The acquisition is subject to necessary compliances and approvals, and is expected to be completed by October 2022-end, it added.

Bank of India: State-owned Bank of India (BoI) on Friday reported divergence in its asset classification for FY22, resulting in a lowering of net profit for the year to ₹2,221 crore. The lender had reported a net profit of ₹3,404.70 crore for 2021-22. According to a regulatory filing, there was a divergence of ₹105 crore in the bank’s gross non-performing assets (NPAs) with the bank reporting it to be at ₹45,605.40 crore. However, as per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) assessment, it came at a higher value of ₹45,710.40 crore.

Ashok Leyland: Hinduja group flagship firm Ashok Leyland on Friday said it has joined hands with UK-based Libertine Holdings for its commercial vehicle powertrains. The commercial vehicle major has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to evaluate the use of the Libertine technology platform for its commercial vehicle powertrains. Under the terms of the MoU, Ashok Leyland will conduct due diligence on Libertine’s technology and explore the scope for Linear Generator product development within its commercial vehicle portfolio.

HDFC Bank: Largest private lender HDFC Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Institute of Economic Growth (IEG) to fund a chair to carry out independent research. It would be known as ‘HDFC Bank Chair of Banking and Finance’ and would be housed at the IEG campus, New Delhi, the bank said in a statement. The bank said it will support IEG for this chair for over five years with a funding support of ₹6.75 crore, with effect from 1 September.

Mahindra Lifespace: Realty firm Mahindra Lifespace Developers is looking to acquire a few land parcels this fiscal to build housing projects with sales potential of ₹3,000-4,000 crore, a top company official said. The company will acquire these land parcels either through outright purchase or by forming Joint Development Agreements (JDAs) with landowners. The company’s market cap recently touched USD 1 billion (about ₹8,000 crore).

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