Dabur’s Burman family controlled entities have made an open offer to acquire up to 26 per cent stake in Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL) at ₹235 per share. 

The open offer would involve total consideration of ₹ 2116 crore (assuming full acceptance).

Currently, the Burman family holds 21.54 per cent stake in REL. The aggregate holding is expected to increase to 26.81 per cent post planned additional stake buy of 5.27 per cent at maximum price of ₹235 per share. Since their holding will go beyond 25 per cent, the open offer is being made for additional 26 percent. 

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The Burman family controlled entities that are now making the open offer and looking to take control of REL are MB Finmart Private Limited, Puran Associates Private Limited, VIC Enterprises Private Limited and Milky Investment & Trading Company.

On the acquisition proposal, Anand C Burman, Chairman Emeritus, Dabur India Limited, said, “The proposed transaction is in line with our vision to create a leading financial services platform that encompasses lending, broking and health insurance services. We are convinced that REL is the right platform and positioned for sustained success. With our guidance, REL will continue its journey to being one of India’s distinguished financial services platforms.”

Burman family has been steadily increasing their stake in REL in recent years. 

Recently, the Burman family has acquired an additional 7.5 per cent stake in REL through multiple block deals worth ₹534 crore.  

Prior to this transaction, the Burman family —who are promoters of Dabur — held 14 per cent stake in REL.

It maybe recalled that the Burman family controlled entities were among the significant investors who participated in the  REL’s preferential allotment in June 2021 when the company raised ₹570 crore from both existing and new investors.

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REL is the holding company for four key businesses i.e. SME Finance via Religare Finvest (RFL), Health Insurance via Care Health Insurance (CHIL), Retail Broking via Religare Broking (RBL) and Affordable Housing via Religare Housing Development Finance Corporation (RHDFCL).

REL Chairperson Saluja had in January this year said that the holding company would look to raise ₹800 crore through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) following its successful one time settlement (OTS) reached with lenders of its crisis ridden subsidiary Religare Finvest Ltd  (RFL).

Saluja had also then said that the crisis around RFL is over and there were no further legacy issues left in the NBFC. RFL had owed about ₹5,300 crore to the consortium of lenders led by the State Bank of India (SBI). 

In March this year, REL had paid off the OTS amount and closed the deal with 16 lenders of RFL by making a final payment of ₹400 crore.

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