The promoters, along with Primera Investments which has made the open offer, currently hold 72.64 per cent stake in Tamil Nadu-based Premier Mills.

The promoters plan to delist the shares from the stock exchanges if the public holding falls to 10 per cent or less after the offer closes on January 20, 2000. The open offer is bening managed by Alpic Investment Services. The offer is for acquiring 9,60,000 shares of Premier Mills at a total cost of Rs 5.76 crore.

Alpic Investment said Primera investments would make another offer to buyout the remaining shares if the public holding in the company drops below 10 per cent after the current offer opening on December 22.

Primera investments has acquired 2.76 per cent in Premier Mills at a uniform price of Rs 52.50 per share since April 12, 1999.

The current offer price of Rs 60 per share is 75.49 per cent higher than the last 26 weeks' average high/low of the closing price of Premier Mills on Madras Stock Exchange and more than the price paid by the acquirer for the previous acquisitions, said the mnerchant banker.

The promoters of Primera - R Jagadish Chandran and D Rajendran - are also associated with Premier Mills as promoters. Pemier mills, which is listed on MSE, is engaged in the textile business and reported a net profit Rs 8.70 crore in 1998-99.

In April this year, Premier Mills transferred its export-oriented spinning unit at Pulankinar, which accounts for about 37 per cent of the company's turnover, to its wholly-owned subsidiary Premier Fine Yarns Ltd. Alpic said the promoters did not have any plans to dispose off any assets of Premier Mills in the next two years, except in the ordinary course of business.

The promoters have deposited Rs 1.44 crore representing 25 per cent of the offer in an escrow account last month with Bank of Baroda's Coimbatore branch, the offer said.

This deposit has been made as per the takeover regulations of the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

The offer is subject to statutory approvals under the Companies Act, Foreign Exchange Regulation Act and the Monopolies & Restrictive Trade Practices Act.The acquirer will make an application to the Reserve Bank of India on behalf of the non-resident shareholders for the permission to acquire the shares held by them.