ITC waiting for EIH rights offer

Diversified conglomerate ITC Limited, having 14.98 per cent stakeholding in EIH with no management control, today said it is waiting for the offer of the rights issue proposed by the latter.

"Let the offer of the rights issue come. The decision will be taken by the board," Chairman of the company Y C Deveshwar told reporters on the sidelines of CII national council meeting here today when asked whether ITC would subscribe to the EIH rights.

EIH, which runs the Oberoi and Trident group of hotel chains in India and overseas, had proposed to float a rights issue to raise Rs 1,300 crore from the market.
    
Industry observers were of the view that there was no reason why ITC should not subscribe to the issue.
    
Chairman of a leading finance company told PTI that only if ITC felt that EIH is not valuable enough or faced a fund constraint, it would not subscribing to the rights issue.
    
However, "For ITC, both these reasons are not valid," he said.
     
Not subscribing the rights issue would also lower ITC's proportionate holding in EIH after the issue was over.
     
Deveshwar, however, refused to comment on Reliance's entry into EIH as a stakeholder.