Calcutta, Feb. 4: CDC Group Plc, the investment arm of the Department for International Development (DFID) of the British government, has pared its stake in Agro Tech Foods by 16.74 lakh shares recently, while big bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwala built a 3.7 per cent stake in the company.
Agro Tech Foods — a 51 per cent subsidiary of ConAgra Foods of the United States — reported to stock exchanges yesterday that CDC Group had cut its stake by 16.74 lakh shares, which represent about 6.7 per cent of the company’s equity capital.
CDC Group continues to own 2.75 lakh shares or about 1.13 per cent of Agro Tech Foods’ equity capital. The DFID arm owned 8 per cent of Agro Tech Foods until the end of September, but has since been reducing its stake in the company.
Agro Tech Foods’ December-end shareholding pattern shows CDC Group holding 12.75 lakh shares or roughly 5.23 per cent of the company’s shares. The British investment firm is believed to have offloaded 10 lakh shares of Agro Tech Foods on January 1 in the market.
Market observers say Jhunjhunwala and his associates are bullish on Agro Tech Foods and have been accumulating the stock for years. Jhunjhunwala had an acknowledged holding of 3.7 per cent in the company at the end of December.
Sources in the market say Jhunjhunwala and his associates scooped up the shares sold by CDC Group on January 1. If that is true, their holding in the company has gone up to more than 10 per cent.
Jhunjhunwala is known to hold substantial stakes in many companies that he feels are value picks. Market mavens say he has had a significant holding in Agro Tech Foods for years. He now appears to be scaling it up rapidly. His stake in the company has gone up close to six lakh shares between October and December.
Agro Tech Foods was previously a subsidiary of ITC. It was then called ITC Agro Tech. Virginia House sold off controlling stake in the company to ConAgra Foods in the mid-nineties. Yet, ITC continues to own 16.77 per cent of Agro Tech Foods’ shares, through its investment arm Russell Credit.
