Yokogawa Electric Corporation of Japan is planning to acquire 100 per cent stake in its Indian venture Yokogawa Blue Star.
The company is making an open offer to acquire the balance 31.45 per cent shareholding in Yokogawa Blue Star that it does not own at Rs 67 per share.
Yokogawa had recently entered into an agreement with its Indian joint venture partner Blue Star to acquire 24.98 lakh fully paid equity shares.
These shares, which represent 28.55 per cent of the paid-up equity capital of the company, were purchased for a consideration of Rs 16.74 crore at Rs 67 per share.
At present, Yokogawa holds 40 per cent of the paid-up capital of Blue Star. After the acquisition, its stake increases to 68.55 per cent.
The open offer move is to consolidate its holding in the Indian venture as the business has become highly competitive and requires large investments, which could lead to lower returns and loss in shareholder value, Yokogawa informed the shareholders of the joint venture today through a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
If the public holding in Blue Star falls below 10 per cent, Yokogawa plans to delist the company from the bourses. The open offer would open on May 29 and close on June 27, 2003.
Yokogawa has been looking at increasing its holding in the Indian affiliate over a couple of years and the deal with Blue Star was stuck over a disagreement on pricing.
Yokogawa Blue Star shares jumped today to close at Rs 65.20 on the BSE from the opening price of Rs 54.55.
Established in 1987, the company has its engineering center and manufacturing center in Bangalore.
Yokogawa Blue Star has made a turnaround and had clocked a net profit of Rs 85 lakh for the quarter ended December 31, as against a loss of Rs 93 lakh in the same period in the previous year, a 191 per cent growth.
The net profit for the nine months ended December stood at Rs 2.34 crore vis-
