Arvind Fashions Ltd Listed
Arvind Ltd, India’s leading textile company got demerged on 26th November 2018 into Arvind Ltd (demerged entity), Anup Engineering and Arvind Fashions Ltd. On the 27th November, Arvind Ltd share was trading at 311 Rs per share. On 28th Nov after ex-date, the stock opened at 91 Rs per share and since then we are seeing a gradual decrease in the share price of Arvind Ltd. as most of the debts are now with this parent company. On the other hand, Investors who wanted to get benefited by the corporate action are highly disappointed to see a listing of Arvind Fashions Ltd at the half of the estimated price.
Listing fiasco of Arvind Fashions Ltd
Analysts suggested that Arvind Fashions Ltd should list between Rs 1200 to 1400 per share. But on 8th March 2019, it listed on Rs. 591.75 per share. For every five shares of Arvind Ltd. investors got 1 share of Arvind Fashions Ltd. formerly known as Arvind lifestyles ltd. So ideally, the base price should have been (311*5) around 1500. Instead, it was taken as 311.5, a share price before the demerger date. Anup Engineering listed at the proper price but Arvind Fashions Ltd disappointed the Investors. The stock closed on the upper circuit of 621.3 by 10 a.m. on listing day i.e. 8th March 2019.
Investors are aware of this listing fiasco. Some expert thinks that Price Discovery mechanism happens only once and therefore on Monday 11th March, stock prices won’t get adjusted to 1200+ range. But there are few exceptions who believes that Stock Exchanges will re-adjust the price so that Investors won’t feel cheated. It is important to understand that stock has demerged into 3 different companies now and not in 2. Hence, it may not be a listing fiasco, as some of the Investors are claiming. One thing is confirmed that Arvind Fashions Ltd share will move upwards from here circuit to circuit till it reaches its True price/ Intrinsic price.
What should Investors do now?
Retail Investors who aren’t aware of this may sell the stocks in a loss in a day or two after listing. It is an opportunity for others to take Fresh positions in the Arvind Fashions Ltd shares. The trick to buy stocks which opens at the upper circuit is very simple. On the trading day (T-day) you have to place an order at 4.99% from the closing price of (T-1) previous trading day during Pre-open session i.e. 9:00 a.m. to 9:07 a.m. to take a chance. If you are lucky, you will get an entry in the stock. But one has to be very careful about newly listed stocks as they are very volatile and can show irregular fluctuations in the share price.
History of Arvind Ltd
Arvind Fashions Ltd is the fastest growing company of Lalbhai Group. Arvind Ltd (founded as Arvind Mills) is India’s largest Denim Maker established by Padma Bhushan Kasturbhai Lalbhai in Gujarat during British Raj. This group has diversified businesses in different sectors wiz. Textiles, Chemicals, Retail, Engineering, Real estate, Beauty Products etc. Arvind Ltd. took great benefit of Swadeshi Movement during the Independence struggle and became one of the largest Khadi, Dhoti, Saree maker in India. Kasturbhai started with one textile company inherited from his Father in 1917 and then went ahead to buy 12 more textile mills from his competitors (mostly relatives) till 1931. His involvement in freedom struggle and friendship with Gandhiji helped him gain good political and social stand in the Society which indirectly helped his Lalbhai Group. Kasturbhai believed in giving back to Society. Ahmedabad University, IIM Ahmadabad etc. are standing on the lands donated by the Trust of Kasturbhai Lalbhai.
There was a phase in Kasturbhai’ s life when Arvind Ltd was under tremendous debt and faced allegations of tax evasion and misappropriation in accounts. He got a clean chit after few years but lost his energy and his health during the legal battle. He retired from business in 1977. In January 1980, he died at the age of 85 in Ahemadabad.
Second Innings of Arvind Ltd.
The second Inning of Arvind Ltd was started by a new Generation of Lalbhai family. India’s first ever home-grown denim brand Flying Machine was born in 1980. In years to come, Arvind Ltd became the fourth largest manufacturer of Denim Clothes in the World. In 1993, Arvind Ltd introduced International brand ‘Arrow’ to India by opening their flagship stores. By 1995 they introduced Mass Market concept to India through their MegaMart. The year 1995 was a landmark year in the company history thanks to the launching of Ruf n Tuf jeans which was an instant hit in the 90s. Akshay Kumar was the brand ambassador of Ruf n Tuf brand. Arvind Ltd brought brand Excalibur and Wrangler to India in 1997 and 1999 respectively (which are now part of ‘Unlimited’). The association with Globally branded apparells kept increasing in New Millenium too. Arvind Ltd brought Tommy Hilfiger (2004), GANT sportswear (2006), Cherokee (2007), US Polo Association (2009), Nautica, Elle (2012), Ed Hardy, Hanes Innerwear (2013), Calvin Klein (2014), The children’s place, GAP (2015) etc. to India through exclusive licencing and joint ventures. Arvind Ltd. brought Shoe brands like Arrow, USPA, Flying Machine (2015) and Aeropostale (2017) to India. It also launched its own Men’s wear brands like Creyate (2014) and True Blue (2016) in this decade. In the 2016 company entered Online retailing through its e-commerce website nnnow.com
On the 8th March 2019, the demerged entities of Arvind Ltd wiz Arvind Fashions Ltd and Anup Engineering listed on the stock exchanges. Shareholder of Arvind Ltd were allotted One share of Anup Engineering (formerly Anveshan Heavy Engineering) for every 27 shares of Arvind Ltd while One share of Arvind Fashions Ltd for every 5 shares of Arvind Ltd.