According to a filing with exchanges, China’s central bank has sold some of its stake in Housing Development Finance Corporation.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has dropped off the investor’s list which consist those with a minimum of 1% stakeholding in the company as of end-June. The PBOC holding at March-end in the company accounts for 1.01% or about 17.5 million shares. However, it is yet not clear if the Chinese Central Bank continues to hold any stake in HDFC or not.
According to a news agency report, “The PBOC may have sold at least a part of its shares in the open market”. On July 10, HDFC shares slumped 2.2 per cent on BSE during early trading. The stock has experienced a 40 per cent decrease from its January record high to its April low but since has improved by as much as 27 per cent.
In the past 12 months ending March, PBOC had increased its holding in HDFC. In April, India tightened the rules on FDI from neighbouring countries in order to stop China from taking advantage of COVID-19 Situation to have opportunistic takeovers of Indian companies. Government has made it mandatory for publicly traded companies in India to disclose the name of shareholders who have more than 1 per cent shareholding at the end of every quarter. HDFC’s global stakeholders as of the latest statement include the government of Singapore, funds run by Vanguard and Invesco Oppenheimer.