Bayer Crop shares jump 4% after equity worth ₹2,207 crore change hands in block deal

As many as 53.54 lakh equity shares of Bayer Crop Sciences Ltd. changed hands in a large transaction that took place in the pre-open block window on Wednesday, July 8.The number of shares that changed hands, amount to 11.91% of the company’s outstanding equity, according to the data available.

Shares changed hands at an average price of ₹4,122 apiece, taking the total transaction value to ₹2,207 crore.
Buyers and sellers in the transaction are not officially known yet.At the end of the March quarter, promoters of Bayer Crop had a 71.43% stake in the company, with multiple entities such as Bayer Vapi Pvt. Ltd. (17.89%), Bayer Investments India Pvt. Ltd. (15.04%), Bayer Sas (14.73%), Bayer Cropscience (11.91%), Bayer AG (8.43%), and Monsanto (3.44%) among the promoter shareholders.

Among the public shareholders, Mutual Funds of India had a 9.05% stake in the company, with Quant MF (2.31%), Nippon India Smallcap Fund (1.97%), Aditya Birla Sun Life Largecap Fund (1.2%) and Bandhan Elss Tax Saver Fund (1.15%) among the prominent names.

Insurance companies had a 2.3% stake, while nearly 52,000 small retail shareholders, or those with authorized share capital of up to ₹2 lakh, had a 7.81% stake in the company.

Shares of Bayer CropSciences are trading 3.3% higher on Wednesday after the block deal, at ₹4,260. The stock is still down 6% so far this year.