Urban Company Share Soars as SBI Mutual Fund Increases Stake to 4%

The share price of Urban Company Limited jumped in early trade on Wednesday.

The stock soared to ₹127.10, up by 15.43% from the previous closing price of ₹110.11. Based on the current price of ₹124.36, Urban gained 13.87% over the past five trading days.

SBI Mutual Fund Acquires Additional Shares

The shares surged as the leading Indian asset management company SBI Mutual Fund increased its stake in the company by buying additional shares in a block deal on Tuesday.

SBI MF acquired 3.5 crore equity shares at ₹109.85 per share and 2.25 crore shares at ₹109.83 per share, for a total transaction value of ₹632.21 crore.

SBI MF already holds 1.89% stake in Urban Company as of December 31. The additional shares increased the asset manager’s outstanding stake to 3.98%, which is nearly 4% of Urban’s outstanding equity.

Three Entities Offload Stakes

The block deal also saw entities offloading their shares in the company.

ABG Capital, which held 1.36% stake in December, sold 1.74 crore Urban Company shares at ₹109.85 per share for ₹191.2 crore. DF International Partners II also sold all of its 1.22% equity stake: 1.76 crore shares for ₹193.9 crore. Wellington Hadley Harbor AIV Master Investors (Cayman) III likewise sold 2.2% stake worth ₹349.2 crore.

End of Lock-in Period

The Gurugram-based company debuted on the stock market in September last year. The block deals took place after the six-month lock-in for shareholders ended on Tuesday.

Urban offers a range of home services including spas and plumbing repairs. Following the IPO last year, Mehta Equities senior vice president of research Prashant Tapse said that the company has the first-mover advantage in a largely untapped market.

“Online penetration in this sector (home services) remains under 1%, which bodes well for the company to capitalise on substantial growth penetration in formalising household services,” Tapse said, according to Reuters.