HDFC warrant-holders net 122% return on conversion

Mumbai: The largest mortgage player HDFC on Monday converted Rs 3,285 crore worth warrants, which were issued in August 2009 into equity shares with the investors making a windfall profit of around 122 percent per unit.

In August 2009, HDFC had issued warrants with non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of Rs 10 lakh each, to qualified institutional buyers, the lender said on Monday.

The issue, comprising zero coupon NCDs aggregated to Rs 4,000 crore. Out of this Rs 2,000 crore NCDs were redeemed in August 2011 and the balance Rs 2,000 crore were redeemed on August 24 this year, it said.

Pursuant to the exchange of the warrants, the Corporation issued and allotted 5,47,43,150 equity shares of Rs 2 each and realised an amount of Rs 3,284.59 crore, representing 99.95 percent of the warrants issued.

HDFC shares closed 1.2 percent up at Rs 739.65 on the BSE whose main gauge Sensex closed flat with a positive bias of 17 points today.

The conversion date was fixed on August 24, 2012 when its share price was Rs 723.

HDFC had issued these warrants at Rs 55 apiece three years ago, and going by the current stock price, the warrants have offered investors nearly 121.8 percent return on conversion- much higher than a 13 percent rise in the Sensex during the period, the bank said.

In August 2009, HDFC had issued over 1 crore warrants at Rs 275 each and the conversion price was fixed at Rs 3,000 based on the then face value of Rs 10 per share. Subsequently, it split the Rs 10 stock into five shares of Rs 2 each after which the number of warrants rose to Rs 5.5 crore while issue and conversion prices were adjusted to Rs 55 and Rs 600, respectively.

The warrant holders had the alternative to exercise the conversion option within three years from the date of the allotment.

As of date, the paid-up equity share capital of HDFC is Rs 307.61 crore and the balance in securities premium account stands at Rs 9,297.14 crore, the lender said.

The issue was the first-ever composite issue of NCDs with warrants by any company in Asia, excluding Japan, which was offered to and fully subscribed by domestic institutional investors, the bank said in a statement on Monday.

The proceeds of the said zero coupon NCDs were utilised to subscribe to the preferential allotment of equity shares offered by its sister concern HDFC Bank.

In terms of the said issue, every warrant-holder had a right to exchange the said warrants with one equity share of Rs 2 each of HDFC, on payment of Rs 600 per equity share and the last date for submission of the warrant exchange forms with the prescribed documents and consideration amount was August 24, 2012.

The proceeds from the warrant exchange will be used to replace the zero coupon bonds and consequently the Corporation will not earn any additional interest income on the amounts raised, it added.

PTI