Ajay Piramal buys 10% in Shriram Transport, shares up 4%

Moneycontrol Bureau

Ajay Piramal, chairman of Piramal Group on Friday bought 10 percent stake in Shriram Transport Finance (STF). The seasoned businessman acquired around 2.26 crore shares at Rs 723 each from the US-based private equity firm TPG in a block deal. 
At 13:00 hours STF shares rose more than 4 percent to trade at Rs 766 on NSE.
"He will contribute to the development of our business growth," Umesh Revankar, MD & CEO of Shriram Transport Finance told moneycontrol.com.
"It was a purely secondary market deal but we were aware of it. He would like to be a long term investor in our company. We wish to get his acumen in business planning and consultancy. As a seasoned businessman he is quite capable of doing so. We have not communicated with him formally so far. However, there should be a line of official communication soon," he said.
In the wake of new banking licence wherein Shriram group has keen desire to apply for, Piramal's entry into the group is seen as a positive. However, it has to be seen whether he gives funding support to the group for its planned foray into banking.
After the Vodafone India stake buying, it was his another inorganic investment bet. According to Piramal, the acquisition in Shriram Transport was in line with his company's strategy for building presence in financial services sector.
"We see long term shareholder value creation from this stake acquisition. We will stay invested in Shriram Transport for long time. Earlier, we had invested in Vodafone," he told CNBC TV18.
saikat.das@network18online.com