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Office product manufacturer Ricoh India witnessed a free fall in its share price after the company’s foreign promoters said the bid to take the company private has failed. Ricoh’s shares on Wednesday hit a 20 per cent lower limit for second day in a row. Ricoh India’s share price had fallen 36 per cent in two trading sessions from Rs 216.5 to Rs 138.25 on Wednesday.
Market players said traders, who had entered the counter in anticipation that the company would pay a higher price to take it private, are now looking at squaring off their positions. On Tuesday, the company's Japanese promoters rejected the price discovered through the reverse book building (RBB) process and said Ricoh India would continue to remain listed.
Foreign promoters of the company, who own 73.6 per cent stake in Ricoh India, would have had to buy at least 16.4 per cent stake in the company under the RBB process to ensure successful delisting.
The company said that a total shares tendered in the delisting offer were 6.9 million, of which those below the discovered price were 4.2 million.
“The number of offer shares tendered is less than the minimum number of offer shares required to be accepted by the acquirer for the delisting offer to be successful...The acquirer has rejected price of Rs 225, where the total number of shares to be acquired for successful delisting offer were tendered,” said the company in a statement on Tuesday. Share price of Ricoh India’s, which presently commands a market cap of Rs 550 crore, had hit an high of Rs 251 a share on June 11.
