Asian Paints Shares Rise After Rs 1,876 Crore Block Deal

Shares of Asian Paints rose marginally in early trade on 16 June after a block deal worth ₹1,876 crore hit the counter.

As many as 85 lakh shares of the paints company, making up a 0.88% stake, reportedly changed hands in the pre-open block deal window.

However, the buyers and sellers involved in the transaction could not be immediately identified.

This is the second major block deal to hit the counter in a week. Just last Thursday, oil-to-chemicals conglomerate Reliance Industries sold a 3.5% stake in Asian Paints at an average price of ₹2,201 per share. The entire transaction was valued at ₹7,703 crore.

The entire stake sold by Reliance Industries was bought by SBI Mutual Fund.

RIL further mentioned that it has a balance of 87 lakh equity shares of Asian Paints. "Please note that 3.5 crore equity shares of Asian Paints held by Reliance Industries through Siddhant Commercials have been sold today at a price of Rs 2,201 per share leaving a balance of 87 lakh equity shares of Asian Paints," said RIL in an exchange filing.

RIL also clocked a multibagger return on its take sale in Asian Paints. Back in January 2008, during the height of the global financial crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Reliance had acquired a 4.9% stake in Asian Paints via a subsidiary, for just ₹500 crore.

Seventeen years on, that investment realised an impressive 14.4x returns, a gain of around 1,440% on RIL's initial investment.

The timing of the stake sale was also worthy to note as Asian Paints is currently grappling with intensifying competition, primarily from Birla Opus, which has recently entered India’s decorative paints market.

According to a report by Elara Securities, Asian Paints’ market share has slipped from 59% to 52% in FY25.

“Market share is expected to come under further pressure unless the competition eases meaningfully. Q4 performance was impacted due to lower Ebitda margins and impairment of investments,” the brokerage noted.