New Delhi, Jan 12 (PTI) The board of directors of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Wednesday approved an up to Rs 18,000 crore share buyback at Rs 4,500 per scrip. The offer price of Rs 4,500 per share is about 16.6 per cent higher than Wednesday’s closing level of Rs 3,857.25 on the BSE.
“…the Board of Directors of the company at its meeting held today has approved a proposal to buyback up to four crore equity shares of the company for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 18,000 crore being 1.08 per cent of the total paid-up equity share capital, at Rs 4,500 per equity share,” TCS — India’s largest IT services firm — said in a regulatory filing. “The buyback is proposed to be made from the shareholders of the company on a proportionate basis under the tender offer route using the stock exchange mechanism…The Buyback is subject to approval of the shareholders by means of a special resolution through a postal ballot,” it added.
The public announcement setting out the process, timelines and other requisite details will be released in due course in accordance with the buyback regulations, the company said.
As per the filing, promoter companies held 72.19 per cent share in TCS as on January 7, 2022.
Indian financial institutions/banks/MFs/ insurance companies held 7.8 per cent; FIIs/FPIs/NRIs/foreign nationals and overseas corporate bodies 15.23 per cent; resident individuals and others 3.88 per cent; clearing members 0.01 per cent; and bodies corporate/ LLP/ Trust/NBFC 0.90 per cent.
At the end of the December 2021 quarter, the Mumbai-based company had cash and cash equivalents of Rs 59,920 crore. Its net cash from operations stood at Rs 10,853 crore.
TCS’ previous buyback offer of around Rs 16,000 crore had opened on December 18, 2020, and closed on January 1, 2021. Over 5.33 crore equity shares were bought back under the offer for Rs 3,000 apiece.
In 2018, TCS had undertaken a share buyback programme worth up to Rs 16,000 crore. The buyback, at Rs 2,100 per equity share, had entailed up to 7.61 crore shares. In 2017 too, TCS had gone for a similar share purchase programme.
Smaller peers like Infosys and Wipro have also undertaken buyback programmes to return surplus cash on their books to shareholders.
In September last year, Infosys had said it has bought back over 5.58 crore equity shares as part of its about Rs 9,200 crore buyback offer. The process — conducted via open market through Indian stock exchanges — saw shares being bought back in the range of Rs 1,538.10 and Rs 1,750.
Wipro had also completed a Rs 9,500 crore buyback in January last year. PTI SR ABM ABM
