These are turbulent days for stocks. But promoters have gone ahead and made a statement by lapping up stakes in their own companies That merits the question, do promoters know the true worth of their business? As the domestic equity market went through a volatile phase during the second quarter, promoters of close to 350 companies — barring PSU banks — on the BSE have increased their stakes across the board. The promoter share in Monnet Ispat jumped to 74.37 per cent in Q2 FY19 from 25.27 per cent in Q1 FY19 while the holding in Vodafone Idea stood at 71.33 per cent as of September 30 against 42.56 per cent in the preceding June quarter, data available with Ace Equity showed. The figures are as of October 25. JSW Steel and its promoters have acquired around 88 per cent stake in Monnet Ispat and Energy following completion of insolvency resolution proceedings, MIEL said in September. Why do promoters raise stake in their own business? In most cases, they find value in the stock or prepare for a positive development in the company. Sometimes, they do so to avert any possible hostile acquisition. Out of the 348 BSE stocks that saw promoters stocking up, 305 moved southwards in 2018 so far. Coming to chemical firms, promoters scaled up their stake in Atul Ltd to 44.67 per cent from 44.65 per cent.
Promoters just upped stakes in these firms; should you buy their confidence?
