Diageo's open offer for United Spirits cleared by Sebi
Moving closer to complete its Rs 11,167 crore takeover of majority stake in United Spirits, global liquor giant Diageo Plc has got market regulator Sebi's clearance for an open offer to acquire 26 per cent stake from public shareholders of the UB group firm.
As part of the deal for purchase of 53.4 per cent stake in Vijay Mallya-led UB group's United Spirits Ltd, Diageo has made a Rs 5,441 crore open offer for purchase of 26 per cent stake in the company from non-promoter shareholders.
The open offer, which was made about three months ago soon after the deal announcement on November 9, has been now cleared by Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) after numerous clarifications sought by the regulator and the subsequent representations made to it in this regard.
The deal is, however, still awaiting a green signal from fair trade regulator CCI (Competition Commission of India), although the concerned parties (Diageo and UB group firms) have submitted certain clarifications sought from them.
Sebi issued its final observations on the open offer, which are necessary for the offer and the deal as a whole to go through, on January 31, 2013 and the same have been communicated to Diageo, United Spirits and the merchant banker JM Financial, a senior official said.
The regulator was earlier not comfortable with certain provisions of the proposed offer, including those related to preferential allotment of shares, as it feared that the minority shareholders might be at disadvantageous position under the existing
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