Avenue Supermarts Shares Fall 4% As Promoters Sell Stake Via OFS

Shares of Avenue Supermarts Ltd, that runs supermarket chain DMart, declined as much as 4.4 percent to Rs 2,432 on Friday.

On Thursday, the company in its stock exchange filing said that its promoters will be selling up to 2.28 percent stake through an offer for sale (OFS). Among sellers are Radhakishan S. Damani, Gopikishan S. Damani, Shrikantadevi R. Damani and Kirandevi G. Damani and have proposed to collectively sell up to 1,48,00,000 equity shares (2.28 percent of the total issued and paid-up equity share capital) on 14 and 17 February.

The sale for non-retail investors shall occur on 14 February 2020 during market hours and for retail investors on 17 February.

Axis Capital and BofA Securities are advisor on the share sale.

The promoter stake sale is an extension of the qualified institutional placement (QIP) that was launched by Avenue Supermarts on 5 February. Shares worth Rs 4,098 crore were sold to institutional investors that included Lone Cypress Ltd, Government of Singapore, Europacific Growth Fund and ICICI Prudential Bluechip Fund.

The share sale offerings are aimed at reducing promoter stake to SEBI's norms on minimum public shareholding, which mandate companies to reduce promoter shareholding to 75 percent within three years of listing.

DMart, which was listed in March 2017, has to meet the deadline by next month.

Post QIP, promoter stake in the company reduced to around 77.28 percent.