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Our Bureau

Mumbai , Dec. 16

RICOH Company Ltd of Japan and NRG Group Plc of the UK on Tuesday made an offer to acquire 24 per cent stake in Gestetner (India) Ltd at Rs 32 per share.

The company is the manufactuer of office equipment. NRG holds 51 per cent in Gestetner, while Ricoh does not hold any stake in the company. The offer is to acquire up to 8,59,592 equity shares of Rs 10 each.

DSP Merrill Lynch, managers of the issue, said that no other company was acting in concert with Ricoh for this offer. "The offer is being made by Ricoh. NRG does not propose to participate or acquire any shares in terms of this open offer,'' it said in a notice to the stock exchange.

The offer is not conditional on any minimum level of acceptance by the shareholders. It opens on January 29 and closes on February 27.

Once the shares are acquired, both Ricoh and NRG do not have any plans to dispose off or encumber any assets of Gestetner in the next two years except in the ordinary course of business and for the purpose of restructuring its assets, investments and liabilities.

The total fund requirement for the acquisition is Rs 2.75 crore. Ricoh has created an escrow account in the form of cash deposit of Yen 19 million (Rs 0.75 crore) with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.

DSP Merrill Lynch has been authorised to realise the value of the escrow account. Gestetner India had informed the BSE that its board was holding an emergency meeting on Tuesday to look into the open offer.

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