Max India chairman Analjit Singh’s move to acquire 17% stake in East India Hotels, which runs five-star hotel chains Oberoi and Trident, could get severely delayed. This comes in the background of the statement of ITC chief YC Deveshwar on Wednesday, who has not ruled out a counter offer to take its stake in EIH above the current 14.98%.

Singh, who currently holds little under 5% stake in the company, would hold around 52% stake after the deal ? the same as the Oberoi family

After keeping mum for almost a month since reports of talks between the Oberoi Group and Singh first surfaced, Deveshwar on Wednesday said the ITC Group,which runs the country’s second-largest hotel chain, would not go for a hostile takeover of the Oberoi Group. He added that ITC is still to take a call on whether to increase its stake or exit the company if a third party comes into being. However, he said on Thursday, ?We are open to upping our stake in the company. If at all we increase our stake in the company, it won’t exceed 25%.?

This, say analysts, could lead to a chain of offers and counter-offers, delaying the deal between the Oberoi family and Singh.

Sources said ITC, however, is currently mulling several options, which includes buying a small chunk of shares in the company (only 0.02% stake), which would take its stake to 15% and automatically trigger the mandatory open offer for an additional 20% stake. It also has the option of increasing its stake to 25% in the company and remaining an investor without any management control or exiting its stake completely.

An analyst with a brokerage firm said what Deveshwar really means is that the company will not take the first step towards an acquisition. However, if the talks between Singh and Oberoi materialise and Singh goes for an open offer after the acquisition of 17% stake in the company, ITC could come out with its counter offer.

?All this could delay the acquisition process compared to what would have happened had only Singh been interested in the company,? he said.

The delay could come as a major setback to Singh, whose proposal to raise funds by partly selling his stake in Vodafone-Essar has recently been approved by the foreign investment promotion board after being deferred thrice. The deal would enable Singh to raise around Rs 533 crore.

Manav Thadani, managing director of hospitality consulting firm HVS International, said though it is unlikely that ITC would be that aggressive to go all out and indulge in a bidding war for a controlling stake, nothing could be ruled out completely.

Another development that has come as a surprise for industry watchers is that ITC has increased its stake in Hotel Leela Ventures to 5.11%.