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Coimbatore, April 1 Robert Bosch GmbH, the holding company of the promoters of Bosch Chassis Systems India, which has planned to acquire the Indian subsidiary and subsequently delist the company, has called off the proposal, apparently because of the huge difference in the offer price indicated by the company and the final price established by the reverse book building process.

While the acquirer had indicated a purchase price of Rs 415 per share, the reverse book building process — using the electronic facility of the BSE for shareholders holding shares in the demat form — established final price at Rs 750 a share.

In a communication to the BSE today, Citigroup Global Markets India Pvt Ltd (manager to the delisting offer), on behalf of Robert Bosch GmbH (acquirer), in respect of the proposed acquisition and delisting of the fully paid-up equity shares of target company, said the acquirer has ‘rejected the final price of Rs 750 per equity share’ established by the reverse book building process, which opened on March 24 & closed on March 28 for shareholders holding shares in the dematerialised form, in accordance with the Delisting Guidelines (being the price at which the largest number of equity shares were tendered).

The issue manager said the ‘delisting offer stands withdrawn & the acquirer has no obligation to acquire the equity shares tendered in the delisting offer’. The shares tendered in the delisting offer will be returned to the shareholders on or around April 2, in accordance with the Delisting Guidelines. All terms & conditions of the delisting offer, as set forth in the original PA & the bid letter dated March 1, 2008, remain unchanged, the communication said.

Citigroup Global Markets India Pvt Ltd, on behalf of Robert Bosch GmbH, had in a public announcement to the equity shareholders of Bosch Chassis Systems India Ltd made earlier, stated that the acquirer was planning to buy up to 4,158,906 equity shares of Rs 10 each representing 20 per cent of the fully paid-up equity share capital of the company under the Delisting Guidelines & delist the shares from the BSE & NSE.

The acquirer is the ultimate holding company of Robert Bosch LLC & Robert Bosch Investment Nederland B.V, the promoters of the company, who collectively hold 80 per cent of the total issued share capital of the company.

The company’s shareholders had granted approval for voluntary delisting of shares from the stock exchanges, by requisite majority, at an EGM held on February 27, 2008. The floor price of the delisting offer determined in accordance with Clause 8(2) of the Delisting Guidelines was Rs 415, which was the average of the 26 weeks traded price quoted on the stock exchange, where the shares are most frequently traded.

According to the schedule of events, the acquirer was to announce the decision on acceptance/rejection of final price or announce exit price on April 1, 2008.

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