Big Bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who passed away last week, had made one last bet — and it is paying off in spades.

His firm RARE Investments had bought 42.5 lakh shares in Singer India, amounting to around 8 per cent of the company.

While the shares were acquired at Rs 53.50 apiece, the Singer India counter has rallied almost 40 per cent in the last two sessions after the news of Jhunjhunwala’s investment became public.

On Wednesday, the scrip closed with gains of Rs 14.24 per cent amid heavy volumes at Rs 79 after rising to an intra-day high of Rs 82.95, an up move of over 19 per cent.

Last Friday, the share had closed at Rs 57.65. The purchase by RARE Investments came via block deals on Tuesday.

The sale of the shares came from parent Retail Holdings (India) B.V. which offloaded 12,000,000 shares which translated to around 22 per cent of its equity.

For the period ended June 30, the promoter held 57.65 per cent of Singer India. Singer is a well-known name in the sewing machines industry in India under the Singer and Merritt brands.

In the first quarter ended June 30, it had reported a profit after tax of Rs 96 lakh compared with Rs 28 lakh a year ago.

This surge in the bottom line came on the back of revenues rising 49 per cent to Rs 109.53 crore. “We were part of Singer Asia until December 2021... The new owners — Retail Holdings (India) BV — based in Greece and the UK were looking for Indian investors to grow…That is why they sold 22 per cent stake. Retail Holdings still has a 37 per cent stake,” Singer India MD Rajeev Bajaj said in an interview with a news channel.

Apart from sewing machines where it is a market leader, Singer has ventured into home appliances such as steam irons, heaters, washing machines and refrigerators.

Both these segments registered strong growth in the first quarter over the year-ago period.

However, high inflation and volatility in raw material prices led to price instability which impacted consumer demand.