3 companies to go private in a week

In a span of just one week, three companies -- Binani Cement, Nirma and Sparsh BPO Services -- have announced plans to delist from the bourses, but analysts said that no common trend was visible as yet.

They said that each firm may have a different, specific reason for making the move. Binani Cement was the first to announce the delisting plan and the other two firms followed shortly.

On October 6, the cement maker said that its promoters would acquire all the shares held by public and delist the company.

Detergent major Nirma said on Saturday that it would delist from BSE and NSE by acquiring the entire non-promoter holding in the firm.

Outsourcing firm Sparsh BPO Services, the latest one to announce such a plan, today said its board has approved a proposal to delist from the BSE by acquiring entire 25.06 per cent holding from shareholders.

Although all these announcements happened in the past 7 days, marketmen said there is no common reason behind these move and each case has separate reason to go private.

"Delisting cannot be said (to be) a wave like IPOs. Each case has some specific reason," SMC Global Securities strategist & head of research Jagannadham Thunuguntla said. Equity analysts believe that although these firms are delisting

"It is possible that in coming two to three years, these companies may think again to get listed on bourses to get a better value than now," an analyst said.

Post announcement, shares of Nirma and Sparsh BPO climbed sharply.

Nirma on Monday jumped 18 per cent to hit a year high of Rs 264.85 in the early trade on BSE.

In June quarter of this fiscal, domestic arms of two multinational companies, drug maker AstraZeneca and process engineering major Sulzer, announced plans to delist from the Indian stock exchanges.

The delisting plans have been made on the heels of the government decision to make it mandatory for all listed firms to raise public holding to a minimum of 25 per cent.

"Both the cases are different and there is no relation of current (announcements) with the earlier ones (delisting of domestic arm of MNCs)," Thunuguntla said.

AstraZeneca, however, failed to get shareholders nod for its delisting plan.