Atlas Copco delisting offer evokes good response

Construction equipment maker Atlas Copco India is inching closer to get itself delisted from the stock exchanges as its offer to exit has received good response from institutional investors.

Several large shareholders, including all the three large MFs who held bulk of the institutional holding in Atlas Copco, have tendered their shares in the first day of the delisting offer, market sources said.

Atlas Copco AB, the Sweden-based promoter of the firm, has made the offer to obtain full ownership of the company.

The Swedish parent currently holds 83.77 per cent stake in the local unit and has made an offer to buy back the remaining 16.23 per cent public stake though this offer. While the floor price is Rs 1,426 per equity share, Atlas Copco AB has given an indicative offer price of Rs 2,250 per equity share.

The sources said while HDFC MF has offered 2.63 lakh shares, DSP Black Rock 2.23 lakh shares and Sundaram MF has tendered 1.03 lakh shares. The offer, being made through the reverse book-building process, opened on March 7 and closes on March 11.

All these three MFs have offered the shares at Rs 2,500 a share and the total shares offered is 8.87 lakh, representing 24.23 per cent of the total offer size, the sources added.

The stock has been on a gaining spree ever since its promoters announced their intention to delist from local bourses. Outperforming its peer group companies, the scrip has witnessed a smart jump of over 25 per cent in the last four months since the proposal was announced. The delisting proposal was announced in October last year.

Atlas Copco Sweden is an industrial group with leading position in compressors, construction and mining equipment, power tools and assembly systems.

The company is primarily engaged in the business of engineering and rental of engineering products. JM Financial Consultants Pvt Ltd is the manager to the offer.

After the successful offer, Atlas Copco shares would get delisted from the Bombay Stock Exchange and the Pune Stock Exchange. The company is listed on the local bourse since 1972.