ITC and EIH (the owners of the Oberoi chain of hotels) are in disagreement over the amount of stake held in EIH by three ITC investment companies, Newdeal Finance and Investment Ltd, Peninsular Investments Ltd and Megatop Financial Services and Leasing Ltd.
An official ITC spokesperson said the combine holds 5 five per cent stake in EIH Ltd, and that their stake in EIH had never been less than it since they crossed the threshold limit and informed the company some time ago.
However, EIH deputy managing director S S Mukerji maintained that the combined holding of the ITC companies had dropped below 5 per cent since they had notified EIH, and in case they exceeded the 5 per cent limit again, they would have to inform EIH afresh.
In addition, sources in EIH expressed their disturbance over the fact that Megatop Financial Services and Leasing had recently started buying EIH shares all over again after having exited the stock sometimes during the second quarter of the current fiscal.
EIH sources said, on July 26 (the day of EIH's annual general meeting), Newdeal Finance had 0.84 per cent, Peninsular Investments, 1.81 per cent, and Megatop Financial Services, 0.51 per cent stake in EIH. Thereafter, Newdeal and Peninsular combined, raised their stake to over 5 per cent - 5.03 per cent to be precise, according to EIH sources - while the holdings of Megatop Financial Services were sold off totally.
EIH sources said: "Not a single share of EIH was held by Megatop Financial Services for about five to six weeks but it has acquiring EIH shares from the market again. According to our latest depository records, Newdeal and Peninsular have a combined holding to 4.86 per cent, while Megatop has 0.02 per cent."
The difference between EIH and ITC's subsidiaries on the level of holdings is not new. Earlier, when the ITC investment companies had notified EIH of their 5 per cent holding, EIH had refuted the claim and had informed the stock exchange to this effect. However, ITC proved its claim through submission of documents, said a source in EIH.
ITC recently infused Rs 3.05 crore as equity capital into Megatop in fiscal 1999-2000 to raise it to Rs 3.11 crore. ITC's investments in the equity capital of Newdeal and Peninsular are Rs 2.88 crore and Rs 4.06 crore respectively.
ITC has increased its contributions to the equity capital of all the three investment companies substantially during the last fiscal, indicating a greater thrust on the activities of these investment companies.
