Bangalore: Foreign fund house Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) acquired 45 lakh shares of SKS Microfinance for over 54 crore through open market transactions.

According to bulk data available with stock exchanges, Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) Pte bought 45 lakh shares of the Hyderabad-based microfinance player from Deutsche Securities Mauritius.

The shares were purchased on average price of 121 apiece, valuing the deal to 54.45 crore.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) had bought 50 lakh shares of SKS Microfinance from Deutsche Securities Mauritius for a little over 58 crore through open market deals.

Earlier in July, Deutsche Securities Mauritius had picked up 9.15 per cent stake, or 95 lakh shares, in SKS Microfinance through qualified institutional placement basis for an estimated 78 crore.

Shares of SKS Microfinance rose by 2.12 per cent to close at 125 apiece on the BSE.

Citing high fiscal deficit and renewed weakness in external demand, Morgan Stanley lowered India’s growth forecast to 5.1 per cent for the current fiscal, from its earlier estimate of 5.8 percent.

Calling for immediate policy action by the government, it warned that in the absence of such a step the GDP growth could slide even deeper – to 4.3 per cent in 2012-13.

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