Wipro's Rs 11,000 cr share buyback to begin from Nov 29

IT company Wipro today said it will open Rs 11,000 crore share buyback scheme on November 29 for Rs 320 a unit, at 8.6 per cent premium over current price.

The company has announced to buyback over 34.37 crore fully paid-up equity shares of face value Rs 2 each of the firm, representing up to 7.06 per cent of the total paid-up equity share capital, from all the fully paid-up equity shareholders/ beneficial owners of the shares as on the record date of September 15, 2017, on a proportionate basis, it said in a regulatory filing.

Wipro will process the buyback through a tender offer route, at a price of Rs 320 per equity share for an aggregate amount of up to Rs 11,000 crore, as per the announcement.

"The eligible shareholder can tender equity shares in the buyback only during the tendering period which is from Wednesday, November 29, 2017 to Wednesday, December 13, 2017," the company said in the offer document.

Share buybacks improve earnings per share and return surplus cash to shareholders, while also supporting share price during periods of sluggish market conditions.

Eligible shareholders holding and tendering equity shares held in their demat form are not required to submit the tender form to the registrar of the scheme, Karvy Computershare.

The buyback is being managed by JM Financial Institutional Securities.

In addition to placing the bid through stock broker, the stock broker of the eligible shareholder holding equity shares in physical form can submit their signed tender form and other documents by December 15, the document said.

As on September 30, 2017, Wipro had consolidated cash and cash equivalents of Rs 5,141.2 crore on its books and investments of Rs 33,305.6 crore, totalling Rs 38,446.8 crore.

Among Indian IT companies, TCS has already completed a Rs 16,000 crore buyback programme earlier this year.

The country's second largest IT firm Infosys will open share buyback worth Rs 13,000-crore on November 30 and end on December 14.

Shares of Wipro closed at Rs 294.6 a unit, down by 0.05 per cent compared to previous close, at BSE today.