The Burmans of the Dabur group have announced an open offer to acquire 26 per cent of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL).

Four entities representing the Burmans — MB Finmart Private Ltd, Puran Associates Private Ltd, VIC Enterprises Private Ltd and Milky Investment & Trading Company — will make an open offer for the acquisition of up to 90.04 lakh shares of REL.

This will be done at Rs 235 per share aggregating, Rs 2,116 crore. If the open offer is fully subscribed, it will take the Burmans’ stake to more than 51 per cent.

The Burmans hold 21 per cent of REL and they proposed to buy an additional 5.27 per cent of the equity share capital and 5 per cent of the expanded voting share capital of REL from the markets that triggered the open offer.

The additional equity shares were issued by the company under employee stock options.

According to Sebi rules, if any entity’s holding in a listed firm crosses 25 per cent, it has to make an open offer to buy an additional 26 per cent from the public.

The open offer price marks a discount of over 13 per cent to the closing price of the
REL scrip last Friday, which led to the REL scrip tanking on the markets.

The REL stock on Monday closed at Rs 253.15, a loss of 7.08 per cent on the BSE. During intra-day trades, it crashed 7.83 per cent to Rs 251.10.

On the NSE, it fell 6.79 per cent to end at Rs 253.10.

REL said in a statement that the Burman group is the largest shareholder of the company and that it has stood by its board and management.

“The Burman group has the right to appoint directors to the board of the company in accordance with the Sebi (SAST) Regulations and post the completion of the open offer it would be the prerogative of the board to make appropriate changes in the management in the best interest of the company,’’ it added.

JP Financial Ltd, which is the manager of the open offer, said the acquirers intend to take control of the target company once the open offer is concluded by the provisions of the Sebi (SAST) regulations.

It disclosed that they also reserve the right in the interim period, pending completion of the open offer, to appoint directors to the board of REL and take all measures to assume control of the firm.

“Further, the acquirers intend to review the management structure of the
target company and its subsidiaries, and reserve the right to require the target company and its subsidiaries to implement such changes in the management structure as determined by the board of directors of the target company,’’ it added.

The Dabur group, a leading FMCG player, is present in the life insurance sector through a joint venture with Aviva International Holdings Ltd, a UK-based insurance group.

Last year, Aviva plc acquired an additional 25 per cent stake from Dabur Invest Corp in a joint venture with Aviva Life Insurance Company India to raise its total stake to 74 per cent.

JSW Infra float

The IPO of JSW Infrastructure, a part of JSW Group, was subscribed 43 per cent on the first day of subscription.

The initial share sale received bids for 5.8 crore shares against 13.6 crore shares on offer, according to NSE data.

The category for retail individual investors was subscribed 1.38 times, and non-institutional investors received 60 per cent subscription.