Private equity-major Blackstone Group, which announced on Monday that it would be picking 50% stake in Bangalore-based Gokaldas Exports, has made an open offer to shareholders to pick up additional 20% stake.

Blackstone Group proposes to acquire up to 68.75 lakh fully paid up equity shares representing 20% at Rs 275 each from existing shareholders of Gokaldas Exports.

The offer will open on October 5 and close on October 24, Gokaldas Exports said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

This $165 million acquisition (50% stake) comes close on the heels of its acquisition of Intelenet for $200 million in the month of June this year. This is the fourth deal in India for the Blackstone Group, which manages around $90 billion worth funds.

The earlier deals included Enadu Group and Emcure Pharma. When asked about the reasoning for taking an exposure in the textile industry, Akhil Gupta, CMD Blackstone Advisors India said, ?We see a lot of value in the textile business in India and China. There are several opportunities that exist after the dismantling of the quota system.?

?Gokaldas Exports has created an advantage for itself in the field of garments and is well poised to gain from the opening up? Gupta added. It has 46 manufacturing facilities and employ around 46,000 people. The company had recorded a turnover of Rs 1,039.69 crore and earned a net profit of Rs 70.52 crore in FY07. It also caters to premium brands like Nike, GAP and Reebok in the overseas market.

This acquisition adds a new chapter for India Inc where the action for private equity led acquisitions. Apart from making investments, PE firms tend to provide management expertise to run the organisation. ?We are thrilled with the quality that the team at Golkaldas Exports has to offer. There are areas that can be improved. We can see a 30 to 40% improvement in the overall productivity?, says Gupta. There would be three nominees of the Blackstone Group on the Gokaldas Exports? board. Gupta says, ?Gokaldas Exports as a domestic presence, we intend to make it to international scale.?

The share price opened up at a high of Rs 274.4 in the morning on Tuesday and closed the day at Rs 252.1, a 10.23% gain over the previous day?s close. Gupta added that they would garner as much as stake from the open offer and would be happy with the current stake if the offer was not well received.