The shares of UTI Asset Management Company rose 10 per cent to close at Rs 848 in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today. Earlier in the day, media reports had surfaced that claimed that the Tata Group is in talks to buy a majority stake in the company from four state-owned financial entities.
Presently, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), State Bank of India (SBI) and Bank of Baroda (BOB) together own a 45.16 per cent stake in UTI AMC. Tata Group is in final talks to acquire this stake, according to an Economic Times report.
Officials close to the development reportedly told that Tata had received in-principal nod from global investment management firm T Rowe Price Group, which is the other big investor in UTI AMC. They hold around 23 per cent.
If the deal goes through and UTI AMC were to be merged with Tata AMC, it would be the fourth largest asset management firm in India. The top three asset managers would be SBI AMC, ICICI Prudential AMC, and HDFC AMC.
However, UTI AMC has denied the media reports. “The company has not taken any such decision as reported in the news article; and as such, no event has occurred that would have triggered an obligation for the company to make a disclosure under SEBI’s norms,” the asset manager said in a filing to exchanges.
Tata also clarified that they are not aware of any such developments. They said, "We would like to clarify that Tata Investment Corporation (‘the Company’) is not aware of any information on the aforementioned news item and hence unable to comment on the same."
Over the course of today’s trading hours, UTI AMC had hit a four-month high of Rs 890.30. In the past one month, the scrip has risen around 24 per cent. In FY22, the asset manager recorded profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 535 crore.
