S&P open offer for Crisil sails through

S&P to hike it's stake in Crisil from 9.45% to 51%.

Global rating firm Standard & Poor's (S&P) has managed to gain majority control of India's premier rating agency, Crisil Ltd. S&P received slightly over 41.67 per cent of Crisil shares, the minimum limit it had set.

S&P's shareholding in Crisil will rise to just over 51 per cent, with the number of shares tendered till the close of the conditional open offer today. S&P already held a 9.45 per cent stake in Crisil.

S&P said it had received shares to take its holding comfortably over the 51 per cent mark, but did not furnish precise figures on the number of shares tendered.

Mumbai broker Rakesh Jhunjhunwala sold a little over one-third of his holding as he tendered 385,000 shares (accounting for 5.62 per cent of Crisil's equity) in the conditional open offer. He is keeping an 8.64 per cent stake in Crisil.

Jhunjhunwala told Business Standard, "I am bullish on the company." This high net worth individual held 14.26 per cent in the domestic rating agency together with his wife, amounting to 908,000 shares on March 31, 2005.

The State Bank of India has also chosen to hold on to its 3.15 per cent stake in Crisil. Domestic institutions "" the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and the Unit Trust of India-I (UTI-I) "" too chose not to tender their shares today, but declined to give reasons for doing so.

ICICI Bank, among others, is understood to have tendered its shares at the revised offer price of Rs 775 per share.

US-based The McGraw-Hill Companies, on behalf of its Standard & Poor's division, had made the voluntary conditional open offer, which opened for subscription on April 6.

Kotak Mahindra Capital Company was the financial adviser to McGraw-Hill and manager to the offer. The maximum S&P was willing to accept in the open offer was over 64 per cent of Crisil's equity.

Crisil's share price closed today at Rs 718.65 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, unchanged from Friday's closing. The scrip touched a high of Rs 720 during the day to fall to a low of Rs 670. On April 11, S&P raised its offer price by 13.97 per cent to Rs 775 per share.

S&P had also increased the size of its offer to a maximum of 65.57 per cent (or 41,70,562 shares) of Crisil's fully paid-up equity from 55.5 per cent earlier.

The condition that S&P must receive a minimum of 41.55 per cent of Crisil shares remains. None of the shares tendered will be accepted if the subscription to the offer is less than the minimum threshold.