The Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has exempted Tapishwar Kumar and Associates from making an open offer to the shareholders of Mohan Fibre Products following their proposed acquisition of a 20 per cent stake in the company.
Kumar and associates, who collectively hold a 60.21 per cent stake in Mohan Fibre, sought the Sebi exemption for acquiring a 13.63 per cent stake from IFCI and 6.36 per cent from ICICI at Rs 2 a share.
The company is listed on the Ludhiana, Bombay and Delhi stock exchanges.
Sebi has directed the acquirers to offer an exit route to the retail investors, who collectively hold a 1.15 per cent stake in the company at the same price which was offered to IFCI and ICICI.
After providing an exit route to individual investors, the company will go for delisting.
A Sebi official said the exemption was granted as the acquirers were required to strike the deal with the institutions to implement the rehabilitation scheme sanctioned by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).
"It was also observed that the public consisting of individual shareholders are holding a 1.15 per cent stake in the target company and that the request of the acquirers for delisting of the target company is in consonance with the Sebi regulations," the official added.
Sebi has also directed that the letters of offers should be reached to individuals under certificate of posting at the last known address on the records of the target company.
It was further directed that the offer is to be completed within 3 months from the date of the order and a status report on the same is to be filed with BIFR within 15 days of completing the offer.
Sebi forwarded the application asking exemption from the mandatory open offer to the takeover panel in terms of sub-regulation (4) of regulation 4 of the relevant rules.
The panel recommended grant of exemption from public offer formalities subject to the acquirers making an offer and providing the exit opportunity to all individual shareholders holding a 1.15 per cent stake.
