Foreign fund houses Goldman Sachs Investments Mauritius and Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) Pte buyed up a total 55 lakh shares of Pantaloon Retail for Rs 144 crore.The transactions occured after Reserve Bank eased restrictions on the purchase of shares in the company by foreign institutional investors (FII) and by NRI’s as well as persons of Indian origin.RBI said in a notification,”The aggregate share holdings by FIIs, NRIs and PIOs under portfolio investment scheme in Pantaloon Retail has gone below the prescribed threshold limit stipulated under extant foreign direct investment policy.”
“Hence, the restrictions placed on the purchase of shares of the above company on behalf of FIIs/NRIs/PIOs, are withdrawn with immediate effect,” RBI said.
Individually, Goldman Sachs Investments Mauritius I Ltd purchased 28.70 lakh shares of Pantaloon Retail India for an average price of Rs 263.3 valuing the deal size at Rs 75.57 crore, as per information available with the stock exchanges.