The Hindu Business Line : Citi accepts Rs 975 as exit price for e-Serve

CITIBANK Overseas Investment Corporation is set to invest over Rs 515 crore to acquire a majority ownership of e-Serve International Ltd that will allow it to subsequently delist e-Serve from the stock exchanges.

Citbank Overseas has accepted an exit price of Rs 975 per share from the shareholders of e-Serve who have tendered their shares in response to an offer made by Citibank to acquire all outstanding shares in the company not currently owned by it.

The shareholders had been invited to submit bids (in accordance with the Securities and Exchange Board of India Delisting of Securities guidelines) through a reverse book-building platform. A total of 53,22,117 shares were tendered in the offer at or below the price of Rs 975 per share.

These shares, when acquired by Citibank Overseas, would result in the public shareholding in the company falling below the limit as specified by the guidelines, according to a notice issued to the stock exchanges on Monday.

Accordingly, the acquirer was entitled to accept the exit price and delist the company from all the stock exchanges, said the notice.