MC Insider: Making of a multi-bagger, a mock income tax search drill and more

The exit of a top honcho in a leading institutional broking firm has been the talk of the town over the past few days. Since the man had moved out from a foreign brokerage along with his top colleagues to set up the institutional business for the home-grown broker more than 10 year ago, there has been much curiosity around where he could be headed next. As it turns out, he isn’t moving out to start anything afresh. Nor is he being poached. He is just returning to his family at Trichy, after a terrible tragedy.

It is not uncommon to see mutual fund managers stepping out to start their own portfolio management service or alternate investment funds. But this market maven, who exited as CIO of a top mutual fund, and has been lying low for some time bought into a listed company, and the stock has rallied from double digit to four digits in less than 18 months. This might well qualify as his best investment so far, but aage aage dekhiye hota hai kya!

So, folks , have you heard of a mock income tax search drill? Yes, you read that right. There are drills for all kinds of unexpected scenarios these days! But sometimes these pro-active moves can have unintended consequences. Take for instance this leading NBFC. It recently conducted such a drill at its office and lo, behold! Rumours of an IT raid spread in the market like wildfire.

A pioneer of sorts in its niche business segment, this company pride is not just being a distributor of energy but also a supplier of talent to the rest of the industry. But the PSU has been recently harrowed with a colleague quitting to join competition only to return a short while after. Under consideration now is a policy barring ‘homecoming’ for a set number of months after the last working day. Will that stop the exodus? Time will tell.

A relatively large loan distributer company which has been in the industry for a long time is now dreaming big. The firm, a little birdie tells us, has started some initial deliberations about going public over the next couple of years. The company had a tough phase during the pandemic peak but has recovered since then. To be sure, the discussions are at an initial stage and nothing is on paper as yet. However, something should take shape in the foreseeable future, sources say!

This player had embarked on a strategy to pursue value accretive acquisitions and joint ventures to boost its FMCG business. Over the last few years, it has lapped up popular domestic brands in niche segments, but now we hear the firm is also eyeing assets overseas. Any guesses?

The draft telecom bill which provides a regulatory framework for spelling out the govt's role in telecommunication services and networks; telecommunication equipment and infrastructure; and spectrum and its assignment, may have had its fair share of controversies in the past. But once its passed, m&a experts are betting that it will trigger deal activity in the telecom infra space. The big question is will it provide clarity on the elephant in the room?