Laurel Energetics, one of the six persons who are making an open offer for the shares of RattanIndia Infrastructure Ltd said the acquirers have submitted a bank guarantee of Rs 111.41 cr rupees for conducting the open offer.
The bank guarantee was made a precondition for the open offer to buy 35.9 cr shares of the company, formerly known as Indiabulls Infrastructure and Power, in an interim order by the Supreme Court of India.
The open offer, originally scheduled for early 2016, ended up in court after the Securities and Exchange Board of India refused to give its nod to the offer price of Rs 3.20 rupees per share.
SEBI, in its order last year, said the correct price for the open offer was Rs 6.30 per share.
This was challenged by the acquirers, including Arbutus Consultancy, Yantra Energetics and Rajiv Rattan, who was one of the original promoters of the Indiabulls group.
The Rs 111 cr furnished as bank guarantee is meant to cover the difference between the price offered in the offer and the price arrived at by the SEBI on the basis of its rules.
According to India’s stock trading rules, any promoter or big shareholder whose shareholding increases by a predetermined amount has to make an offer to public shareholders to buy their shares.
The price for such open offers are arrived at according to rules laid down by the SEBI.
In case the Supreme Court arrives at the conclusion that the price arrived at by the SEBI was the correct one, it is likely that the bank guarantee will be encashed and shareholders compensated.
RattanIndia shares are trading at Rs 7.00 at present and an open offer of Rs 3.20 is unlikely to generate much investor interest.