Minority shareholder of Golden Tobacco Pramod Jain today made an open offer for acquiring another 25 per cent stake in the Sanjay Dalmia-promoted company, a move that could possibly open a clash between them over management control.
They had sparred earlier this year over chemicals firm GHCL, promoted by the Dalmia, which led to a wide range of allegations on both sides.
The voluntary offer aims at acquiring 44.02 lakh fully paid-up shares of Rs 10 each, representing 25 per cent of the issued share capital, at a price of Rs 101 each.
Shares of Golden Tobacco today closed at 109.4, up by 4.9 per cent, on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Jain, who has 6.47 per cent stake in Golden Tobacco according to a public announcement by him, said that by increasing his holding he intends to prevent the promoters from stripping the company's assets.
"I suspect that there is an attempt by promoters to strip the assets or put some kind of encumbrance on the assets of the company," Jain told PTI.
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Jain said that by increasing his stake in Golden Tobacco, he wants to take control of the company and put an embargo on any asset stripping move.
Meanwhile, Dalmia said, "In terms of shareholding, the promoters sharholding, along with that of our friends, are at comfortable level. We will apprise you of any further developments on the issue."
As per information available at BSE, promoter holdings in Golden Tobacco stood at 27.19 per cent as on September 30, 2009.