Tata Sons Ramps Up Stake In Tata Motors In February

Tata Sons Ltd. bought stake in Tata Motors Ltd. last week after a dismal quarterly performance by its U.K. subsidiary, Jaguar Land Rover, triggered a slump in the stock price.

The parent company of the salt-to-software Tata Group bought nearly 1.18 crore shares of Tata Motors from the open market for around Rs 183 crore, according to exchange filings. The purchases were made on Feb. 11, 12, 13 and 15 at an average cost of Rs 155 per share. Following this, Tata Sons’ stake in Tata Motors rose by 40 basis points to 34.01 percent.

The purchases come barely a week after shares of the automaker declined nearly 30 percent intraday—its worst single-day drop—after it reported the biggest quarterly loss in Indian corporate history. That was because the owner of Jaguar Land Rover reported a net loss of Rs 27,000 crore for the December-ended quarter as the luxury car maker’s sales plummeted in China and faces uncertainty over Brexit.

Shares of Tata Motors have fallen over 55 percent in the 12 months through February.

Tata Sons made similar open market purchases in September 2017 and August 2018 worth Rs 5,100 crore at around Rs 414 per share. The value of those acquisitions have lost nearly Rs 3,100 crore till date.