Mega star Amitabh Bachchan, known as the Big B of the Bollywood, invests in small and mid-sized companies as well when it comes to stock market purchases, and is sitting on losses on some of his recent investments.

As per the data available with the Bombay Stock Exchange, Bachchan holds stakes between 1-3 per cent in at least three listed companies -- Neuland Laboratories, Birla Pacific Medspa and Fineotex Chemical.

The total market value of Neuland Labs stands at about Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million), while that of Birla Pacific Medspa and Fineotex are Rs 122 crore (Rs 1.22 billion) and Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion), respectively.

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Out of these, he has been holding Neuland shares since the last quarter of 2010, while he has purchased shares of the other two companies in the past four months.

His name appears as 'Amitabh Harivansh Rai Bachchan' on the shareholder lists of these companies. Queries sent to him regarding these stock purchases remained unanswered.

A broker said that the film star might have invested in shares of large companies as well, but those holdings could be below 1 per cent, and therefore, have not been disclosed by stock exchanges.

The listed companies are required to disclose their shareholders having 1 per cent or above stake at the end of every quarter.

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Bachchan had earlier dabbled into the corporate world by setting up his much talked-about ABCL (Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd) to produce films and other entertainment related activities. The venture was later renamed AB Corp.

Also, the asset and liabilities affidavit filed by his wife Jaya Bachchan as a Rajya Sabha member in 2009 reportedly disclosed investments worth about Rs 122 crore (Rs 1.22 billion) in companies by Amitabh and about Rs 3 crore (Rs 30 million) by Jaya herself.

The latest purchase, as per data available with the BSE, was of 80,000 Fineotex shares for about Rs 1.2 crore (Rs 12 million) on November 17.

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Prior to that, he also purchased 90,000 and 1,10,000 shares of the same company on November 14 and November 15, respectively.

Bachchan purchased a total of 2.8 lakh (280,000) shares of Fineotex on these three days for about Rs 4.6 crore (Rs 46 million).

At the current market price, these Fineotex shares are worth about Rs 2.5 crore (Rs 25 million) and account for a 2.5 per cent stake in the company.

Fineotex shares today fell by 10 per cent to Rs 87.70. They had scaled a 52-week high of Rs 353 on June 28, 2011.

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In another recent investment, Bachchan also holds 16 lakh (1.6 million) shares, or a 1.43 per cent stake, in the newly-listed Birla Pacific Medspa. The BSE data shows that Bachchan purchased 10 lakh (1 million) shares of this company on August 9, 2010 for Rs 1.85 crore (Rs 18.5 million).

At the current market price, his entire holding of 16 lakh Birla Pacific Medspa shares is worth Rs 1.74 crore (Rs 17.4 million).

It could not be ascertained that when the remaining 6 lakh (600,000) shares were purchased by him.

Birla Pacific Medspa shares today fell 4.8 per cent to Rs 10.90 at the BSE on Thursday.

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Besides, Bachchan also holds 1.71 per cent stake or 92,530 shares of Neuland Lab, as per the latest quarterly shareholding data available with the BSE as on September 30.

The stake held by Bachchan in the company stood at 1.49 per cent at the end of October-December 2010 quarter, while his name did not figure on the list of shareholders prior to that quarter.

At the current market price, Bachchan's 1.49 per cent holding in Neuland is worth about Rs 70 lakh (Rs 7 million), down from over Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) at the end of last fiscal, ended March 31, 2011.

Neuland shares, however, on Thursday soared 10.71 per cent higher to Rs 77.55.

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Previously, Bachchan had also held shares in another listed company, Energy Development Company Ltd, whose promoters included his friend and political leader Amar Singh.

Bachchan had held the 10 lakh shares of this company initially as a promoter shareholder till December 2005, and later as a public shareholder.

At the end of June 2009, Bachchan's 10 lakh shares were equivalent to a 3.64 per cent stake in this company.

However, these shares seems to have been sold by him, as his name no longer exists on the list of shareholders filed by the company with the BSE.