Disinvestment: NTPC board approves share buyback worth Rs 2,275 crore at Rs 115 per share

• In a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges, NTPC Limited said that the shares represent 2 percent of the total number of fully paid-up equity shares

• NTPC had sought an exemption from SEBI last week from a rule which bars a company from announcing a share buyback programme if a scheme of amalgamation is pending

New Delhi: The Board of Directors of state-run Maharatna power PSU NTPC Limited has approved the company's planned share buyback worth Rs 2,275 crore of 19.78 crore shares at Rs 115 per share. This amounts to a 28 percent premium. In a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges, NTPC Limited said that the shares represent 2 percent of the total number of fully paid-up equity shares in the paid-up share capital of the PSU. 

"… the Board of Directors of the Company in their meeting held on November 2, 2020 has inter-alia approved the following: Buyback of not exceeding 19,78,91,146 fully paid-up equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each (representing 2 percent 'of the total number of fully paid-up equity shares in the paid-up share capital of the Company at a price of Rs 115 per equity share payable in cash for an aggregate consideration not exceeding Rs 2275,74,81,790 representing 2.19 percent & 2.01 percent of the aggregate of the fully paid-up equity share capital and free reserves as per the audited standalone and consolidated financial statements of the Company," NTPC said in the filing. NTPC has fixed November 13 as the record date for the purpose of ascertaining the eligibility of shareholders for buyback of equity shares, it added.

NTPC recently sought exemption from SEBI from buyback norms

NTPC had sought an exemption from SEBI last week from a rule which bars a company from announcing a share buyback programme if a scheme of amalgamation is pending. The board of NTPC Limited had approved the merger of two wholly-owned subsidiaries of NTPC — Nabinagar Power Generating Company and Kanti Bijlee Utpadan Nigam — with itself in 2019. In its application to SEBI, NTPC had argued that there will be no new issuance of equity shares or change in the shareholding pattern of the company after the amalgamation. "Considering that there is no new issuance of equity shares or change in the shareholding pattern of the Company consequent to the Scheme of Amalgamation, the requirement of Regulation 24(ii) of the Buy-back  Regulations,  2018  can be viewed as a procedural requirement in the present circumstances," NTPC had said. SEBI had granted the exemption to NTPC on October 24.

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The backdrop

The news comes shortly after KIOCL announced a share buyback on October 21. The government is believed to have reached out to Coal India Ltd, NTPC Ltd, NMDC Ltd, MOIL Ltd, and Engineers India Ltd (EIL) for share buybacks this year. The government is the largest shareholder in all these companies and is looking to sell off its equity for cash in return. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has managed to raise just about 3 percent of its FY21 target of Rs 2.1 lakh crore so far. With tax revenues hitting a new low in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fiscal gap is likely to rise to more than double the target of 3.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey had said in an interview last week that the Centre is encouraging PSUs to announce share buybacks if they have extra cash available after meeting their capex requirements.

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