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Our Bureau

Mumbai, Dec. 26 Tata Sons and Japan’s largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo have postponed their open offer for picking up 20 per cent stake in Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra), their offer manager said on Friday.

The final letter of approval in terms of Regulation 18(2) is yet to come from SEBI, an official from Lazard (India), their manager to the offer, said on Friday.

It is a procedural delay, the official added.

The open offer, a joint one between the Japanese telecom major and Tata Sons, is for acquiring 20 per cent stake in Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Ltd (TTML). It was supposed to open on January 8 and close on January 27.

The revised scheduled with regards to the open offer will be announced separately, Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Ltd said in a communiqué to the bourses.

DoCoMo is making an open joint tender offer with Tata Sons – which has 66 per cent stake in Tata Teleservices – to buy up to 20 per cent in TTML.

Tata Teleservices holds 37.65 per cent stake in TTML.

The Rs 949-crore open offer to shareholders of Tata Teleservices is at Rs 24.70 a share and was announced in November for acquiring 38.42 crore shares.

DoCoMo is making the open offer to shareholders of TTML though it is not required to do so according to SEBI guidelines.

SEBI guidelines say that companies have to make an open offer only if the acquiring party picks up more than 15 per cent stake in the targeted company.

In this case, DoCoMo will only acquire 9.9 per cent stake in Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Ltd as a consequence of buying into Tata Teleservices.

In November, the Japanese company had announced its intent to acquire 26 per cent stake in Tata Teleservices, for a consideration of $2.7 billion or Rs 13,070 crore.

The shares of TTML was down by 1.21 per cent on the BSE on Friday and closed at Rs 20.45.

More Stories on : Open Offers | Telecommunications

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