On Tuesday, Azim H Premji, chairman of Wipro, not only got a two-year extension at the helm of the company (till July 2019), but was also poised to add crores of shares to his kitty after the company announced bonus issue of shares in the ratio of 1:1. In his individual capacity, the 71-year-old industrialist will get 9.34 crore (93.4 million) equity shares while the overall "promoter and promoter group" will add 178.06 crore shares.
Shareholding pattern data filed by the company as of March 31, 2017 showed that the "promoter and promoter group" hold 1,78,06,00,607 (178.06 crore, or 1.78 billion) shares, or 73.25 percent of the total paid-up equity share capital.
Individuals in the group included Rishad Premji, son of Azim Premji and Chief Strategy Officer of Wipro, who holds 6.86 lakh shares, and Yasmeen Premji, wife of Azim Premji, with 10.62 lakh shares.
Other significant investors in the "promoter and promoter group" include Azim Premji Trust, which holds 39.90 crore shares, or 16.42 percent, and Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives Pvt Ltd., with one crore shares, or 0.41 percent.
Among other category of shareholders, Employee Benefit Trust holds 1.37 crore shares, or 0.56 percent, foreign portfolio investors hold 24.77 crore shares (10.19 percent), mutual funds hold 6.11 crore shares (2.52 percent) and LIC holds 6.17 crore shares (2.54 percent).
The shareholding pattern could alter if the company announces its second share buyback plan in July this year, as declared on Tuesday.
Last year, after declaring of FY2016 results, the company had announced a programme entailing a buyback of up to 40 million shares at Rs 625 per share.
The buyback would constitute about 1.62 percent of its total equity share capital.
As for the value of their shareholdings today, all that one needs to do is multiply the closing price of Rs 490.60 as of Wednesday by the number of shares for the respective shareholder category.
The company skipped payment of final dividend for the financial year 2016-17 after having declared 100 percent interim dividend in January this year. Wipro declared its March quarter (Q4) and FY2017 results on Tuesday.
The market capitalisation of Wipro stood at Rs 1,19,320 crore on Wednesday, based on the closing price.
Wipro had last issued bonus shares in the ratio of 2:3 in June 2010 and prior to that, 1:1 in August 2005.
The other two IT software services companies, TCS and Infosys, had declared their results earlier this month.
On Wednesday, the BSE Sensex closed 190 points higher at 30,133 after hitting an all-time high of 30,167. The rally was led by ITC, M&M, Hindustan Unilever, HDFC and ICICI Bank.
The NSE Nifty closed with a gain of 45 points at 9,351.
