Stocks to watch: TCS, Vodafone Idea, Yes Bank, UltraTech Cement, SKF India, SpiceJet

TCS: On Tuesday, TCS announced that the US-based Central Bank has chosen TCS BaNCS to upgrade its primary technology infrastructure. The Central Bank's strategic alliance with TCS is designed to establish seamless and adaptable customer onboarding procedures, fostering the bank's ongoing expansion, as per a stock exchange disclosure.

Vodafone Idea: The company will assign equity shares valued at ₹1,440 crore from optionally convertible debentures (OCDs) to ATC Telecom Infrastructure, the company said in an exchange filing on Tuesday. Following the conversion, ATC will possess 2.9% of the revised shareholding. In accordance with the OCDs' terms, ATC requested VIL on March 18, 2024, for the conversion of 14,400 OCDs, totaling ₹1,440 crore, into 1.44 billion fully paid-up equity shares with a face value of ₹10 each.

Yes Bank: The bank has informed the exchanges on Tuesday that it has concluded the transfer of exposure of the bank in Katerra India Private Limited to Prudent ARC Limited, an asset reconstruction company, and has received cash consideration of ₹203.40 crore in relation to the same. Yes Bank had had invited Expression of Interest for the sale of identified stressed loan exposures through auction under Swiss Challenge Method on January 20, 2024.

UltraTech Cement: On Tuesday, the fair trade regulator, CCI, gave the green light to UltraTech Cement's planned takeover of the Kesoram Cement Business from Kesoram Industries. This proposed merger involves UltraTech Cement Ltd acquiring the grey cement division of Kesoram Industries Limited, following a comprehensive arrangement scheme dated November 30, 2023.

SKF India: The company infrormed the exchanges that it has appointed Mukund Vasudevan as an Managing Director of the company with effect from 8th April 2024 for a period of five years, subject to approval of shareholders of the company.

SpiceJet: Following a prompt from lenders, one of the two contenders for the insolvent Indian airline Go First has increased its bid, according to two banking sources and an individual familiar with the matter, reported Reuters. The bidding consortium, comprising Ajay Singh, the managing director of budget airline SpiceJet, and Busy Bee Airways, has raised the bid by an amount ranging from ₹1 billion ($12.06 million) to ₹1.5 billion. The initial bid was ₹16 billion. The sources chose to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to disclose this information to the press. Attempts to reach Go First's resolution professional, who is overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings, Singh, Spicejet, and Nishant Pitti, the majority shareholder of Busy Bee, for comments were not immediately successful.

Shakti Pumps: The water pump company on Tuesday initiated a qualified institutional placement (QIP) with the aim of accumulating up to ₹200 crore. The company has set the minimum price per share at ₹1272.09. The final issue price will be decided by the company in collaboration with the book-running lead managers assigned for the QIP issue.

Bharat Heavy Electricals: The state-owned engineering company announced on Tuesday that it has secured a contract to establish the 1,600 MW Singrauli Supercritical Thermal Power Plant (STPP) Stage-III for NTPC. The new plant will be located next to the existing 2,000 MW thermal power station at Singrauli in the Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, as per BHEL's statement. BHEL was responsible for setting up the Singrauli TPS, which was NTPC's inaugural power plant in the state, back in 1982. BHEL also noted that the machinery previously installed at Singrauli has been delivering exceptional performance since its commissioning.

Persistent Systems: On Tuesday, the mid-level IT services firm, Persistent Systems, announced that it has carried out a share purchase agreement (SPA) for the acquisition of Persistent Systems UK from the Aepona Group in Ireland, at a cost of £7.43 million. Persistent Systems UK operates in the telecommunications API gateway sector, where it defines, exposes, controls, and monetizes telecom services for partners and application developers.

LIC: On March 19, SEBI, the market regulator, confirmed that an LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India) employee was implicated in the front-running of a significant client's trades. In its confirmatory order, the Securities and Exchange Board of India stated that the order was issued based on preliminary findings to halt further fraudulent trading activities and to prevent the misappropriation of wrongful gains totaling ₹2.44 crores. The five entities involved are Yogesh Garg, an employee in LIC's investment department, his mother Sarita Garg, his mother-in-law Kamlesh Agarwal, Ved Prakash HUF, and Sarita Garg HUF. The interim order was issued to the noticees on April 27, 2023 and the regulator has seized illegal gains exceeding ₹2.44 crore and barred the noticees from accessing the securities market until further notice.