Can You Really Sell Shares Before Listing? SEBI Says Yes

• Donald Trump’s rhetoric before and after his inauguration sent Indian markets into a tailspin on Tuesday, with the Nifty 50 and S&P BSE Sensex plunging to seven-month lows.

• Investor sentiment was already subdued due to weak corporate earnings, foreign investor sell-offs, and pre-budget concerns. The uncertainty triggered by the new US president’s statements and executive orders further exacerbated the decline, with Nifty Realty and Consumer Durables sectors falling over 4% each

• Foreign institutional investors have offloaded ₹52,317 crore worth of Indian equities this month, while domestic institutional investors have net purchased ₹57,189 crore.

• Domestically, Indian markets could face additional pressure as the RBI maintains tight liquidity to support the rupee.

Apollo Hospitals +2.13%

• The stock gained over 3% on January 21 after Kotak Institutional Equities upgraded it from 'Add' to 'Buy'. The brokerage raised Apollo Hospitals' target price to ₹8,270 from ₹8,100.

• Kotak analysts believe Apollo Hospitals is competitively better positioned due to its diversified presence and limited exposure to the highly competitive Delhi NCR micro-markets.

Zomato (10.16%)

• Shares of the food delivery aggregator fell 16% in two days after reporting a 57% YoY decline in net profit to ₹59 crore for the October-December quarter.

• Sequentially, profit dropped 66.5%. Following the results, analysts lowered their earnings estimates and share price targets for Zomato.

• Sebi plans to permit trading in shares before listing. (Mint)

• RBI relaxes norms for ARCs and streamlines borrower dues settlement process. (BS)

• BIS proposes guidelines to regulate online retail practices. (YS)

• Reliance Capital seeks delisting of its shares from exchanges. (BS)

• Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail raises ₹1,860 crore ($214Mn) through QIP. (BS)

• Denta Water raises over ₹66 crore ($7.6Mn) through its anchor book. (MC)

This week’s mainboard IPO schedule

• Denta Water and Infra Solutions

  • Offering Period: 22 January - 24 January, 2025

  • Listing Date: 29 January, 2025

  • Issue Price: 279-294

  • Lot Size: 50

M&A / Investments

• Hatsun Agro acquires Milk Mantra Dairy for ₹233 crore ($26.8Mn). (MC)

• Jio Finance and BlackRock invest ₹117 crore ($13.5Mn) in a new mutual fund joint venture. (MC)

• L'Oreal and others invest ₹65 crore ($7.5Mn) in Deconstruct. (ET)

• Reliance Consumer Products to acquire packaged food brand SIL. (ET)

• Elanpro acquires a 41% stake in Wendor. (EN)

Debt

• JK Tyre secures a ₹866 crore ($100Mn) sustainability-linked loan from IFC. (BS)

VC

• Bharat Value Fund secures ₹1,250 crore ($144Mn) in the first close of its third fund. (YS)

• SamVed launches a ₹433 crore ($50Mn) fund for early-stage Indian tech startups. (YS)