UPDATE: Hindustan Unilever To Buy Back Shares At Up To INR280 Each

11th Jun 2010 13:23

(Adds company comments, details on premium and previous buyback) By Shikhar Balwani & Satish Sarangarajan Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES MUMBAI (Dow Jones)--India's largest consumer products maker by sales Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (500696.BY) said Friday it will buy back shares in the open market for up to INR280 each, a premium of about 11% over the close price. The Indian unit of Anglo-Dutch Unilever PLC (UL) said it will spend up to INR6.30 billion on the buyback. "The buyback is proposed to effectively utilize the surplus cash and make the balance sheet leaner and more efficient to improve returns," it said. Shares in Hindustan Unilever ended up 0.1% at INR252.50 ahead of the announcement on the Bombay Stock Exchange where the benchmark 30-stock Sensitive Index finished 0.8% higher. Hindustan Unilever's board had last approved a share buyback worth up to INR6.30 billion rupees at the end of July 2007. -By Shikhar Balwani and Satish Sarangarajan, Dow Jones Newswires; +91 22 6145 6120; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 11, 2010 08:23 ET (12:23 GMT)