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Deepak Fertilisers, which is in the middle of a year-long battle to acquire Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers, has sold over two per cent stake in the takeover target in nine tranches during the past month.
With this, Deepak Fertilisers' stake in Mangalore Chemicals has declined to 29.05 per cent from 31.25 per cent at the end of the last quarter.
Reacting to the development, Zuari chief Saroj Poddar, who has joined hands with UB Group boss Vijay Mallya to ward off Deepak Fertilisers' move, said, "Now that Deepak Fertilisers has decided to pare its stake, it is an indication they want to cash out. We want to increase our stake to 75 per cent along with the UB Group."
Poddar along with the UB Group holds about 38 per cent stake in Mangalore Chemicals.
Poddar pointed out that his agreement with Mallya was on and he was allowed to appoint three directors on the Mangalore Chemicals board.
Mangalore Chemicals shares closed marginally down at Rs 89.70 on the BSE on Monday while shares of Deepak Fertilisers rose over two per cent to Rs 146.50.
Responding to claims that Deepak Fertilisers had thrown in the towel, its chief financial officer and president, Somnath Patil, said, "We are still the majority stakeholder with 28 per cent. How does 2.2 per cent even matter? We will shortly come out with a decision. It will be premature to say that we have lost interest in Mangalore Chemicals."
Sources close to the development said the Pune-based company was in wait and watch mode and the sale of over 2 per cent stake in Mangalore Chemicals may not be a signal that Sailesh Mehta, promoter of Deepak Fertilisers, was giving up his acquisition plan. However, analysts tracking the takeover story said this well might be the first sign of Mehta losing interest.
Last week, Poddar had raised the size of his open offer for Mangalore Chemicals stock from 25.9 per cent to 36.56 per cent to allow Deepak Fertilisers to cash out. The new offer, priced at Rs 91.92 a share, is close to Rs 400 crore.
Mallya resigned from the Mangalore Chemicals board in December. Mangalore Chemicals has been in the midst of a takeover battle for over a year now.
| STORY SO FAR |
APRIL 2013
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It started with Poddar acquiring about 10 per cent stake in Mangalore Chemicals during April 2013 but then Deepak Fertilisers in July 2013 bought about 24 per cent of the stock from the market. Poddar, too, bought more shares in two tranches to increase his stake to 16.43 per cent.
Deepak Fertilisers increased its stake to over 25 per cent in April 2014, triggering a mandatory open offer.
After receiving regulatory clearances, both sides revised their open offers through which Deepak Fertilisers cornered another six per cent stake, taking its holdings in Mangalore Chemicals to over 31 per cent. Deepak Fertilisers' offer was higher at Rs 93.6 a share against the Poddar-Mallya combine's Rs 81.60.
