RIL raises Rs 3,465 cr through stocks sale

With this, RIL has sold part of its treasury stocks held by its Petroleum Trust for the third time in four months and in the process raised in all over Rs 9,300 crore as part of its war-chest for its M&A (merger & acquisition) initiatives.  
RIL, this time, sold 3.3 crore shares at an average price of Rs 1,050 each, the company said. It had made a bid for the bankrupt Netherlands-based petrochemical firm LyondellBasell. Further, in this context RIL, on Friday, last had sweetened its bid by writing to Lyondell Basell raising its valuation to about US$13.5 billion from US$12 billion put forward initially in November 2009. Currently, RIL is awaiting the outcome of a crucial meeting on Tuesday in the US, where Lyondell’s reorganisation proposal will be considered at the United States’ Bankruptcy Court. If the deal fructifies between RIL and Lyondell, the world’s third-largest chemicals maker, it would create a global energy and chemicals giant, with annual revenues estimated at US$ 80 billion.
Under the revised offer, RIL offered to buy about $2.2 billion in new stock and support a separate $2.8 billion rights offering by Lyondell to take the company out of bankruptcy. Most of the remaining payment would be in cash.