Westlife Development has been locked in an upper circuit almost non-stop since January 2009. The reason: McDonalds' franchisee Hardcastle Restaurants became a direct subsidiary of this listed company. But why is it not classified an illiquid stock coming under the purview of the new call auction regulation?

Jason Monteiro

Over the past seven trading days, the share price of Westlife Development has gone up by nearly 15% with just one share being traded every day. The stock has been hitting the upper circuit limit on each of the seven days. Over the past year the stock has moved up by over 3,531% from Rs7.88 on 21 May 2012 to Rs286 as on 3 July 2013. Excluding the bulk deals, on an average just 2-3 shares have been traded per day over the one year period. Westlife Development (Earlier named: Dhanaprayog Investments Co) used to offer investment and allied financial services, its license as a NBFC was cancelled in 2009. In December last year, Hardcastle Restaurants, the franchisee of American fast-food chain McDonald's, became a 100% subsidiary of Westlife Development. A company which is similar to Jubilant Foodworks? That’s what leading media houses think. A headline in the Economic Times reads, “Reverse merger makes McDonald’ franchisee parent Westlife Developments market darling.” A “market darling”, in which the ‘market’ cannot participate.

To read more on this click here...