The Hindu Business Line : Infosys promoters, directors offload 5.16 m shares in ADS

TOP honchos of Infosys Technologies Ltd, including the promoters and the directors, have sold over 5.16 million shares in the sponsored ADS issue, accounting for 32 per cent of the issue size of 16 million shares. This issue included a green-shoe option of two million shares.

The Chairman and chief mentor, Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy, leads the pack of Infosys officials in selling shares. He has sold over 1.55 million shares, including optional shares of some 1.9 lakh shares, bringing down his stake to some 6.01 per cent from about 6.58 per cent.

Based on Monday's closing of Infosys' ADR price of $68.75 on Nasdaq, Mr Narayana Murthy is likely to net a little over $100 million. At current exchange rates, this translated into Rs 435 crore.

Similarly, the CEO and Managing Director, Mr Nandan Nilekani, who held a stake of 4.57 per cent , sold about 1.076 million shares including optional shares of 1.35 lakh shares. Post-sale, Mr Nilekani's shareholding has reduced marginally to 4.17 per cent. His realisation is likely to be around $74 million (Rs 321 crore).

Mr S. Gopalakrishnan, Deputy Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, sold some 1.042 million shares, thus bringing down his holding in the company to about 4.04 per cent. His realisation from the sale is likely to be around $71 million (Rs 308 crore).

Mr K. Dinesh, Director, sold some 7.6 lakh shares reducing his stake to 2.96 per cent and his gain from the sale is likely to be around $52.25 million (Rs 227 crore). Mr Shibulal, another director and promoter, sold some 6.88 lakh shares and may gain around $47.3 million.

The Chief Financial Officer, Mr T.V. Mohandas Pai, has sold 19,306 shares, while another director, Mr Srinath Bhatni, has sold some 10,000 shares.

Mr V. Balakrishnan, Vice-President (Finance) and Company Secretary, has sold 10,213 shares. With this sale, the combined holdings of promoters and directors stood reduced to 20.29 per cent compared to 22.20 per cent before the issue.

The company is likely to announce the issue price on Wednesday, sources said. Other major shareholders including FIIs have sold about 5.9 million shares reducing their stake to 23.01 per cent, against the earlier 25.19 per cent.

The promoters, directors and institutional investors who hold more than 1 per cent stake in Infosys account for 69 per cent of the 16 million ADS issue.

The institutional shareholders diluting their stake in the ADS issue include UBS Securities Asia Ltd, Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, Espana S.A., Copthall Mauritius Investment Ltd, Morgan Stanley and Co, Emerging Markets Growth Fund, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Securities, Fidelity Management and Research, Oppenheimer Funds and Ms Jamuna Ragavan.

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