INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - APRIL 2006
THE MONTH THAT WAS

GOLDMAN SACHS PICKS UP 5.39% IN HFCL

MAURITIUS-BASED Goldman Sachs Investments has picked up 5.39% stake in HFCL, one of the largest telecom manufacturers in India. Goldman Sachs has acquired 1.88 crore shares of HFCL through open market purchases, the company informed BSE.

The company also informed that the final tranche amounting to $10 million of HFCL's $43-million FCCB offering has been allotted on April 10. The first tranche of $33 million was allotted on March 7. This completes the company's FCCB programme, split into two tranches of $33 million and $10 million, respectively.

Earlier, Indus Capital, one of the largest Asia-centric hedge funds in the world, Kelusa Capital and Tracer Capital had invested $33 million in HFCL by subscribing to the FCCB issue. When converted into shares, this will result in about 17% of the post-issue equity. Emerging Markets Management, a US-based $18-billion fund, had also picked up 5% stake in the company from the open market .