Date:07/10/2004 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/10/07/stories/2004100701680300.htm

Back LIC picks up 10% stake in TNPL

Our Bureau

Chennai , Oct. 6

LIFE Insurance Corporation of India has acquired 69.63 lakh shares representing a 10 per cent stake in Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd (TNPL), according to information provided by TNPL to stock exchanges.

LIC acquired the shares on September 28 through an off-market deal. IDBI, one of the two original promoters of TNPL, shed a 13.59 per cent stake in TNPL on September 28 and 29. It now holds an 18.47 per cent stake in the company.

The State Government, the other promoter, continues to hold a 35 per cent stake in TNPL.

The two promoters held a nearly equal stake of about 50 per cent, and in 1995, when the company went for a public issue to fund an expansion, they brought down their stake to about 35 per cent each.

The public issue at Rs 110 a share including the premium was to raise Rs 585 crore for the expansion.

The promoters also went in for a foreign currency loan of $75 million from the World Bank. Both are to have reduced their stake further as part of an understanding with the World Bank.