Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd on a different ‘pitch’ as it buys 10k shares of India Cements

CHENNAI: Chennai Super Kings Company Ltd (CSKCL) has picked up 10,000 shares in its promoter group, N Srinivasan and family company-led India Cements, a fact that it has intimated to the stock exchanges in a filing on Friday. This comes a day after the big ticket deal in which the country’s largest manufacturer of cement UltraTech bought a 23 per cent stake in the city-based India Cements for over Rs 1,900 crore.

Interestingly, the purchase date by CSKCL shows it as Wednesday (26th June), a day before the UltraTech deal with India Cements was made public.

While the number of shares may seem insignificant, the one-of-its-kind transaction which happens to be the first instance of CSKCL buying shares in India Cements makes it significant. As per a financial analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity, this could be seen as a positive signal to the market. Given that the cash-rich CSKCL after the marquee Indian Premier League event held earlier this year, the share purchase could be seen as a “smart investment”. Perhaps, it is worth waiting and watching if CSKCL, over the next few days, continues to buy more shares in India Cements that will lend credence to the cricket venture’s involvement in the brick-and-mortar business.

There is also a possibility that an employee of India Cements would have decided to cash out of the employee stock option incentive scheme, thereby leading to the company opting to route it through CSKCL window, the analyst further said, as it is still unclear as to the reasons behind the cricketing enterprise buying such an “insignificant” quantum of shares.