IFCI back in favour after stake sale talks revive

Financial institution IFCI, which was in limelight in the later part of the previous bull run, is once again finding favour among traders and operators. The stock, which has gained close to 16% in a week, closed at Rs 51 on Friday, up 2.5% from the previous close. Talks that drove up the stock in 2007 have resurfaced now. Speculation has it that the government is looking to revive the process for selling its stake in IFCI soon. Traders, who had bet on the stock aggressively in late 2007, when it was at its peak, are unlikely to forget the stock plunge after IFCI, in December 2007, called off the process for the stake sale to a strategic partner, after the Sterlite Industries-Morgan Stanley consortium demanded management control.