Four of the founders of Indian IT outsourcing giant Infosys Ltd are selling shares to raise about $1.1 billion, Reuters reported quoting its sister publication IFR.
The founders are offering 32.6 million shares in Infosys at a fixed price of Rs 1,988 ($32) each, which is at a 4 per cent discount to Friday's close, the report said.
The Infosys shares closed at Rs 2063.60 on Friday. Deutsche Bank is the sole book runner and the books were covered just after the launch, IFR said.
On Monday morning, shares of Infosys have declined 4% to Rs 1,993 after a block deal executed on the counter on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The stock opened at Rs 2,019 and touched a low of Rs 1,988 on NSE. About 32.3 million shares representing 2.8% of total equity of Infosys changed hands in multiple block deals in early morning trade, according to a news report.
CNBC TV18 today reportd quoting co-founders Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani that they sold shares for funding philanthropy, supporting entrepreneurship and for personal reasons.
Last time Murthy sold a big chunk of shares was in 2009 when he and his wife Sudha offloaded about 8 lakh shares for Rs 174.30 crore to raise capital for their venture fund Catamaran Ventures.
In August 2013, Nandan Nilekani's wife Rohini sold shares worth $27 million or Rs 163 crore to fund her philanthropic work.
Infosys has not made an official statement on the sale yet.
The four founders who sold shares include S D Shibulal and K Dinesh, besides Murthy and Nilekani.
