Foreign research firm Investec has withdrawn the 'Sell' report it had issued on the BSE on December 29. The report was withdrawn by Investec after complaints of error. BusinessLine had reported on December 31 that BSE shareholders had highlighted several factual discrepancies in the report and called for its withdrawal.
Investec was the only research house to have given a 'Sell' call on BSE in 2021, with a price target of Rs 1,720. However, BSE shareholders pointed out to the exchange that by Investec's own logic, BSE's price target should be Rs 2,182.
Investec had undervalued BSE's holding in Central Depository Services (CDSL) by nearly Rs 2,800 crore even after applying a 25 per cent holding company discount. It impacted BSE's SOTP (sum-of-the-parts valuation) by Rs 462 per share, considering which BSE's price target could get revised to Rs 2,182 instead of Rs 1,720 given to it by Investec.
"With regard to our BSE note, some factual errors have been pointed out to us. We have recalled this note and apologise for our oversight," Investec said in a fresh notice to investors.
Investec had attributed the rally in BSE's share price to the IPO of its rival exchange NSE. The shareholders had complained that Investec did not take into account BSE's rising quarter-on-quarter profit and valuations for its other segments and ventures involving mutual funds platform BSE Star MF, Gujarat Gift City Exchange platform, and so on.