DLF shares bounce back after hitting fresh record low

Shares of realty giant DLF on Thursday hit a fresh life-time low of Rs. 100 a piece, before bouncing back on bargain buying and gained over 15 per cent from day’s low.

In a tumultuous opening trade after being battered by nearly 30 per cent in last trading session on the back of a Sebi order, the stock today opened near its day’s low level at Rs. 100.10 and further slipped to Rs. 100.

However, the stock gained ground soon as brokers and traders saw value buying at such low levels, which is less than half the level of its 52-week high of Rs. 242.80 a piece.

The stock rose to as high as Rs. 115.85 in early morning trade, marking a gain of over 15 per cent from opening lows.

After paring some intra-day gains, the stock was trading 6 per cent up at Rs. 111.20 at the BSE at 1130 hours.

The stock had slumped to Rs. 104.95 on Tuesday, the last trading session, after a Sebi order led to unprecedented sell-off in the company shares.

DLF shares are now trading with circuit limits, with the upper limit for the day fixed at Rs. 120.65 and the lower end at Rs. 94.50 at the BSE.

On Tuesday, as the stock suffered a severe drubbing, the company’s market valuation had fallen by Rs. 7,438.67 crore.

Out of this, the promoters took the biggest hit of about Rs. 5,500 crore, while overseas investors also saw the value of their holding plunge by nearly Rs. 1,500 crore.

There are 334 foreign institutional investors in the company who hold over 35 crore shares in the realty firm.

The hit for small retail investors was little over Rs. 200 crore, while that for HNIs was Rs. 48 crore.

Sebi has barred DLF as well as its six top executives, including chairman and main promoter K P Singh, from the securities market for 3 years for “active and deliberate suppression” of material information at the time of its IPO.

Besides K.P. Singh, those barred from the markets include his son Rajiv Singh (Vice Chairman), daughter Pia Singh (Whole Time Director), Managing Director T.C. Goyal, former CFO Ramesh Sanka and former ED (Legal) Kameshwar Swarup.

DLF said it has not violated any laws and would defend itself against any adverse findings in the SEBI order.

While the regulator has not imposed any monetary penalty, the prohibition order would bar DLF and the six persons from any sale, purchase or any other dealings in securities markets for a period of three years, including for raising funds.

DLF had over Rs. 19,000 crore of debt as on June 30, 2014, while its already-proposed fund raising plans include nearly Rs. 3,500 crore through issue of certain bonds to lower debts.

This is one of the rare orders by SEBI where it has barred a bluechip firm and its top promoter/executives. The order can be challenged at Securities Appellate Tribunal.

DLF is the largest real estate group in the country with nearly Rs. 10,000 crore annual turnover.