Credit rating agency Moody’s Corp raised its stake holding in ICRA by acquiring additional 21.55 per cent from public shareholders of the company via an open offer, taking its total stake in the company to 50.06 per cent, according to a stock market disclosure.
New York-based Moody’s had offered to buy up to 2.65 million shares of the company at a revised open offer price of Rs 2,400 per share to raise its stake in the company to 56.01 per cent from 28.51 per cent previously. The offer was conditional upon Moody’s picking a minimum number of shares which would give it at least 50 per cent holding in India’s second largest rating agency.
The company managed to successfully acquire 2.15 million equity shares, representing 21.55 per cent equity stake, which valued the transaction at Rs 517.13 crore ($86 million).
The open offer started June 3 and closed on June 16. Citigroup was managing the open offer.
Shares of ICRA shot up over 17 per cent during intra-day trades to touch its life-time high at Rs 2,340 each on the BSE on Friday.
ICRA started as Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India Limited (later renamed ICRA Limited) in 1991. Five years later it signed an agreement with Financial Proformas Inc (FPI), now called Moody’s Risk Management Services, to provide credit education, risk management software, credit research and consulting services to commercial banks, financial and investment institutions, financial services companies and mutual funds in India.
In 1998-99 Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) picked a stake in ICRA and in 2001 hiked its stake by 9 per cent to become the largest shareholder in ICRA. Three years later it hiked it further to around 29 per cent and held its stake since then.
Last year McGraw Hill Financial Inc, which controls S&P, had acquired additional 15.1 per cent stake in India’s top credit rating agency CRISIL Ltd for Rs 1,290 crore ($214 million) through a voluntary open offer. With this, McGraw Hill Financial increased its stake in rating agency to 67.8 per cent.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
