Adani Enterprises Ltd is likely to enter Sensex once HDFC-HDFC Bank merger is completed, said a report on Thursday. Quoting analysts’ estimates, Economic Times reported IT firm LTI Mindtree Ltd is likely to make it to the benchmark Nifty in place of HDFC after the completion of its merger with HDFC Bank.
“LTI Mindtree appears to be the strongest candidate to replace HDFC in the Nifty,” ET reported quoting analysts.
Adani Enterprises, which is already a part of the Nifty, has a free-float market capitalisation of Rs 46,457 crore.
If included, analysts said, LTI Mindtree Ltd will see an inflow of Rs 1,400 crore or $170 million, while Adani Enterprises Ltd could see around Rs 1,000 crore or $120 million worth of shares being bought by passive funds that track the indexes.
Last month, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the reverse merger of mortgage leader HDFC and its subsidiaries with the group’s banking arm HDFC Bank, announced last April.
With this, the biggest merger in the history of India Inc has moved one step closer as the only pending approvals are from the Reserve Bank, which though has given the in-principal approval to the $40 billion mega amalgamation.
Other regulators namely the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority have already given their approvals for this deal. The deal has also been okayed by the exchanges BSE and NSE last December.
Last month, the Mumbai bench of the tribunal approved the merger of the real estate arms of HDFC with itself. Already its insurance verticals and the mutual funds’ verticals have been merged with the bank.
HDFC expects the merger process to be effective from the third quarter of the next financial year as the RBI approvals are a lengthy process. The merged entity will have a combined asset base of around Rs 18 lakh crore. The merger is expected to be completed by the second or third quarter of FY24, reported PTI.
Meanwhile, inclusion in Sensex would be a shot in the arm for the flagship arm of Adani Group, which has been battling the massive fallout of Hindenburg Research’s scathing report.
The conglomerate’s seven listed stocks have lost about $120 billion in market value since a Jan. 24 report by Hindenburg Research accused it of improper use of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation, allegations the group has denied.
