TCS shares fall 3% amid block deal; Tata Sons likely seller

Shares of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) tumbled 3% in opening trade on Tuesday amid a report that its promoter, Tata Sons, was looking to sell a 0.65% stake in the country’s largest software exporter. Tata Sons was mulling to offload 2.34 crore shares of TCS at a floor price of ₹4,001 per share through block deals. The floor price for the deal, which is at a 3.6% discount to Monday’s closing price, is likely to fetch $1.1 billion (or ₹9,122 crore) to Tata Sons.

Reacting to the news, TCS shares opened lower for the second straight session at ₹4,055.65, down 2.1% against the previous closing price of ₹4,144.75 on the BSE, On Monday, the stock settled 1.7% lower.

Extending opening losses, the IT heavyweight dropped as much as 3% in early trade to ₹4,021.25 on the BSE, while the market capitalisation of the country’s most valued IT stock dropped to ₹14.59 lakh crore. On the volume front, there was a surge in volume as 2.47 crore shares changed hands over the counter as compared to the two-week average of 0.96 lakh stocks. The names of buyers and sellers could not be ascertained immediately.

The share price of TCS has risen 6% in the calendar year 2024; 12% in six months; and 28.5% in the past 12 months. TCS shares touched its all-time high of ₹4,254.45 on the BSE on March 18, rising nearly 40% against its 52-week low of ₹3,070.30 touched on April 17, 2023.

As per the latest shareholding available on the BSE, promoter entities held 72.41% shares in TCS, of which Tata Sons owned 72.38%, while the rest is held by Tata Investment Corporation.

The development came a week after some reports suggested that Tata Sons may go public by September 25, 2025, as it will complete three years of being notified as an upper-layer non-banking financial corporation (NBFC) by the Reserve Bank of India. Last year, the RBI classified Tata Sons as an upper-layer NBFC, which makes it mandatory to list itself on the exchanges within three years of notification. The deadline for the same is September 2025. 

However, there is speculation in the market that Tata Sons is looking to avoid going public next year by restructuring its balance sheet to get an exemption from the RBI to list its shares on stock exchanges.

As per the shareholding pattern of Tata Sons, which is mostly owned by Dorabji Tata Trust (28%) and the Ratan Tata Trust (24%), Tata Motors and Tata Chemicals own 3% each in the holding company, while Tata Power and Indian Hotels hold 2% and 1%, respectively. Among others, Cyrus Mistry family-led Sterling Investment Corporation and Cyrus Investments own 9% each in the company. The listing of Tata Sons is likely to unlock value for shareholders.

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