NEW DELHI | MONDAY, 9 MARCH 2020 COMPANIES 3. <

3 Infosys employeesarrested for takingbribe fromtaxpayersPRESS TRUST OF INDIABengaluru,8March

Three Infosys employeesattached to the Income Taxdepartment’s CentralisedProcessing Centre in Bengal-uru,werearrestedforallegedlytaking bribes from taxpayersfor speedy processing of theirrefund, police said on Sunday.

According to police, thekey accused among the threewasattachedto theCPC’sdatadivision and had demandedandcollectedmoney throughhis friends from some majortaxpayers with whom he hadcontact over phone for pro-cessing their I-Trefundclaimsat the earliest.

Hewouldallegedlychargethem four per cent of therefundmoneyashis commis-sion, they added.

Recently, one of the tax-payers refused to pay the

money and shared the audiorecording of his conversationwith theaccusedwith IncomeTax officials who held aninternal enquiry and thenapproached the police.

TheElectronicsCitypolicehave registered a case ofcheatingandcriminalbreachof trust against them.

The police suspected thetrio might have made about~15 lakh so far as commissionfrom taxpayers.

Aramco slips 9%, now below IPO price

REUTERSDubai, 8 March

Shares of Saudi state oilcompany Aramco slumpedbelow their initial publicoffering (IPO) price onSunday for the first time sincethey began trading inDecember, after Organizationof the Petroleum ExportingCountries’ (Opec’s) pact withRussia to restrict oil suppliesfell apart.

Aramco shares closed 9.1per cent lower at 30 riyals($8.00), their sharpest oneday percentage fall, andbelow the IPO price of 32riyals. The Saudi market

closed 8.3 per cent lower.Aramco’s record IPO in

December gave it a marketcapitalisation of $1.7 trillion,making it the world's mostvaluable company.

The deal was the culmina-tion of Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman’sefforts to open up the energygiant to outside investors andraise funds to help diversifythe economy away from oil.

But buyers of the shareswere largely Saudi retail andinstitutional investors as thedeal found little interestbeyond the Gulf.

The stock hit an intradayhigh of 38.70 riyals on its sec-

ond day of trading, but haseased since then.

The shares have fallenmore nearly 15 per cent sincethe start of the year amid con-cerns the coronavirus out-

break will slow oil demandfromChina andhurt the glob-al economy.

Oil prices have alsoslumped, and fell further onFriday after a three-year pact

between Opec and Russiaaimed at supporting themar-ket ended in acrimony whenMoscow refused to backdeeper production cuts. Opecresponded by removing all

limits on its own production.“Aramco is under pressure

because of the failure of thedeal,” saidMarie Salem, headof institutions at DamanSecurities.

Aramco’srecordIPOinDecembergaveitamarketcapitalisationof$1.7trillion,makingittheworld’smostvaluablefirm

Sharesdown15%sincestartoftheyear;latestcrashcomesafterthree-yearpactbetweenOpec&Russiaendedinacrimony

Realtyandinfradrovebuyoutsin’19:ReportRAGHAVENDRA KAMATHMumbai,8March

The buyout deals in realestate and infrastructure sec-tors were 2.5 times of otherasset classes, said a newreport by audit and consult-ing firm EY and theIndian VentureCapital & PrivateEquity Association(IVCA.)

In 2019 , buyoutsin real estate and infra were$11.6 billion while in otherassets it stood at $4.6 billion.“While consistent growth inbuyouts has been a majordriver of theoverall growthofPE/VC investments for thepast three years , there was aslight difference in nature ofthe deals in 2019. Unlike in2017 and 2018, where the

growth in buyout activitieswas in traditionalPE/VCassetclass, 2019 saw growth ininfrastructure and real estateasset classes,” it said.

In 2019, 59per centof totalvalue of investments in realestatewasbuyouts, it said. In

2019, investments inreal estate went up by33 per cent at $6.1 bil-lion.

“A large portion ofthem were buyout

deals which is a significantdivergence from the earliertrend, where a large numberof investments in real estatesector were credit invest-ments,” the report said.

According to the report,buyouts in real estate haverisen from 0.4 per cent in2015 to 3.6 per cent in realestate deals.

AsianoiltradersarebracingforanotherroundofheftypricefallsonMondayinkeybenchmarksBrentandDubaiaftertheworld'stopexporterSaudiArabiaslashedprices,reignitingamarketsharebattleamongkeyproducers.GlobalpricemarkerBrentdivedmorethan9%onFridayto$45.27abarrel, itsbiggestsingledaylossin11years.LateonSaturday,SaudiArabiaslasheditsofficialsellingprice(OSP)forApril forall itscrudegradestoalldestinations.TheproduceralsoplannedtoraiseinApril itsproductiontomorethan10millionbarrelsperday(bpd)forthefirsttimesinceMay2019.AtraderwithaNorthAsianrefinersaidthe‘crazy’pricecutscouldleadBrenttotest$40abarrelsoon. REUTERS

Oil traders brace foranotherround of hefty price decline

Deals wereworth 2.5times otherasset classes