RITES Shares Climb On Acquiring Stake In IRSDC, Declares Dividend

Shares of RITES Ltd climbed nearly 3 percent in trade on Monday to an intraday high of Rs 294 apiece after the company said that its board has approved an investment of Rs 48 crore on acquiring 24 percent stake in Indian Railways Station Development Corporation (IRSDC).

On Friday, RITES in a statement to the exchanges said that the Rs 48 crore investment will be made with the acquisition of 4,80,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each. The objective of the acquisition is to infuse enhanced capital as equity contribution at par value in IRSDC for its station development plans.

IRSDC is a company promoted by RLDA and IRCON to take up the railway station development work on pan India basis. After the said infusion of equity by RITES, IRSDC's shareholding will be between RLDA, IRCON and RITES in the ratio 50:26:24, respectively, for an enhanced capital value of Rs 200 crore.

RITES also declared an interim dividend at the rate of 60 percent (Rs 6 per share) of paid-up share capital.

"Further, the Board of Directors have also fixed Friday, 10" January, 2020 as the record date for the purpose of payment of dividend," it added.

RITES is a public sector company that is a leading player in the transport consultancy and engineering sector in India. As of 30 September 2019, the Government of India's stake in RITES stood at 87.4 percent.