The Nasdaq-100 is an index comprising the hundred largest non-financial stocks listed on the exchange, measured in terms of market capitalisation. Infosys was one of three stocks added in the annual re-ranking of the index. The other two are Level 3 Communications and Vertex. The three will join the index effective December 18. Infosys is in elite company including Google, Cisco, Yahoo, Oracle, Apple and others.
V Balakrishnan, CFO of Infosys, says this ôis part of our journey to become a mainstream stock, globallyö.
Infosys has worked towards this goal with its ADR issue in November being largely targeted at increasing the free float of the company to meet Nasdaq's minimum requirements. At the time, the company sold 30 million ADRs in a deal valued at $1.6 billion. Each ADR, representing one underlying share, was priced at $53.50, a narrow 3.2% discount to the price that the companyÆs outstanding ADRs were trading at. In consonance with its objective, the sale was done by converting common shares into ADRs on a one-to-one basis. Post the issue, ADRs increased to 19% of shares outstanding. The deal allowed Japanese investors to participate through a Public Offering Without Listing (POWL) and five million shares were sold through this route.
Infosys was one of the only stocks to move sideways on the bourses yesterday losing only 0.5% to close at Rs2187 ($49.11). A bearish Mumbai market lost over 4% on adverse sentiment, due in part to a surprise move by the Reserve Bank of India to increase cash reserve ratios for banks by 50 basis points to 5.5%.
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