GQG raises India game with 5.96% in Patanjali Foods

Patanjali Foods Ltd on Monday said Rajiv Jain's GQG Partners Llc purchased a 5.96% stake in the company in its offer for sale (OFS), sparking a rally in its shares.

- Mayur Bhalerao & Anirudh Laskar

The edible oils and foods company had set a floor price of 1,000 a share to sell 25.3 million shares. On 14 July, GQG Partners purchased the shares at 1,223.35 each for a total of 2,639.4 crore. With this, GQG Partners has become the largest public shareholder of Patanjali Foods.

Following the announcement, shares of Patanjali Foods jumped 2.91% to touch an intraday high of 1,259 before closing slightly lower at 1,223.35.

Patanjali Foods currently has a market capitalization of *45,419.5 crore. Over the past year, its shares have gained 20.3%, against a 23% increase in the broader market index Nifty 50.

Indian-born Rajiv Jain, 55, founded GQG Partners in 2016 after spending over two decades at the Swiss group Vontobel Asset Management. Florida-based GQG Partners is listed in Australia and had $92 billion in assets under management at the end of December last year.