The Hindu Business Line : NewBridge, Maxwell open offer for Matrix

THE two global funds, US-based NewBridge Capital and Singapore Government-owned Temasek Holdings, have announced an open offer to the shareholders of Matrix Laboratories Ltd (MLL) to acquire a further 20 per cent holding in the Hyderabad-based Rs 418-crore pharmaceutical major.

On Thursday, the two funds had entered into an agreement with Matrix Labs for subscribing to a preferential offer of 22.5 lakh equity shares at a price of Rs 1,500 per share comprising 15.4 per cent of equity holding.

As against the initial proposal of picking up stake in Matrix `independently' through preferential offer, both the foreign investment funds later decided to acquire the holding in Matrix by `acting in concert'. This resulted in their combined holding crossing the threshold limit of 15 per cent stipulated by the Takeover Code, triggering an open offer.

The preferential offer to the foreign funds would result in Matrix Labs' equity enlarging to Rs 14.54 crore from the existing capital of Rs 12.29 crore and fetch the company funds to the tune of Rs 337.5 crore.

India NewBridge Investments Ltd (INIL), the investment vehicle of NewBridge Capital, announced that it had also entered into a share purchase agreement with promoter shareholders of Matrix with a right to purchase up to 7,27,394 shares at Rs 1,500 per share till 45 days after the offer closure (secondary purchase)."

The preferential issue and secondary purchase would together constitute up to 20.46 per cent of post-issue equity capital of Matrix (not taking into account the shares to be acquired through the open offer), they said.

Though the acquirers have each entered into separate agreements with Matrix for the preferential allotment, they clarified that, "INIL and Maxwell (the investment arm of Temasek Holdings) are acting in concert only for the purpose of this offer and are entitled to exercise all of their rights, on their respective shares acquired in the preferential issue and the offer, independently of each other, post-offer completion."

The acquirers have appointed DSP Merrill Lynch as the manager of the open offer, which begins on May 31 and closes on June 29. INIL and Maxwell would acquire the shares tendered and accepted under the open offer in the approximate proportion of 3:2, they said.

More Stories on : Mergers & Acquisitions | Open Offers | Pharmaceuticals

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