Engineering major Larsen & Toubro's (L&T) open offer to acquire 31 percent stake in midcap IT major Mindtree will start on June 17 and end on June 28, according to the offer letter by the engineering major.
As per the revised schedule, the independent directors of Mindtree will have time till June 13 to give their recommendations to stakeholders. The last date for revision of the offer price is June 14.
The initial open offer was slated to happen on May 14 and was postponed due to delay in approval by the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI).
The market regulator had sought clarifications from L&T regarding the open offer. As a result of this delay, the committee of independent directors set up by Mindtree were unable to recommend to their shareholders whether to opt for the open offer or not.
With SEBI's approval now in place, L&T has sent the Letter of Offer to Mindtree to acquire 31 percent of its shares.
In India’s first-ever hostile takeover bid, L&T signed a definitive agreement to acquire 20.32 percent from VG Siddhartha and his coffee enterprise for over Rs 3,000 crore on March 18. The deal was formalised late April.
In March, L&T said it would increase its stake to 66.32 percent through an open offer for 31 percent and an open market purchase of 15 percent. This puts the total value of the acquisition at Rs 10,700 crore, or Rs 980 per share. On June 6, the company upped its stake in Mindtree to 28.90 percent.
The move was against what Mindtree founders wanted since they did not want to be a part of large conglomerate. The weeks leading up to the buyout of Siddhartha’s majority stake by L&T saw the founders of Mindtree taking all necessary steps of fend off a hostile takeover bid. This included the buyback of shares or looking for another white knight. The company's move failed at both ends.
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