L&T's First Ever Share Buyback Proposal Approved by Board, Share Price Surges

Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) has said that it's boards of directors have approved the proposal to buy back up to 6 crore equity shares of the company at a maximum price of Rs 1,500 apiece for an aggregate amount of Rs 9,000 crore. It will be the company's first ever share buyback. The buyback is 4.29 percent of the total paid up equity share capital.

The share price of L&T jumped as much as 1.5 percent after the announcement to Rs 1,342.

In the past two years, the company has raised over Rs 4,500 crores by divesting assets including proceeds from IPO (initial public offering) of L&T Infotech and L&T Technology Services, selling general insurance unit and the Kottupalli port. For the financial year 2017-18, its cash and equivalents rose to Rs 6,824 crore from Rs 3,526 crore in the previous fiscal.

Companies are allowed to buy back 10 percent of the total equity (paid-up capital and free reserves) with the board approval and up to 25 percent with shareholders' approval, according to the Companies Act.