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The delisting offer of Polaris Consulting and Services from Virtusa Consulting Services will open for subscription on Tuesday (January 30) and close on February 5.
Virtusa Consulting Services has set ₹370 a share as the indicative price for delisting of Polaris’ shares from the exchanges.
The last day for shareholders to revise the bid price or withdraw from bids is February 2.
The indicative price is 59.2 per cent premium to the floor price of ₹232.37, as determined in accordance with the SEBI delisting regulations, Virtusa Consulting Services had informed the exchanges two weeks back.
It may be recalled that Virtusa had acquired 78.65 per cent of the of Polaris in March 2016 from the erstwhile promoters and public shareholders at ₹220.73 a share.
Foreign institutional investors’ holding as of December-end stood at 4.86 per cent stake, down from 6.58 per cent stake on September 30. While UTI through the unit scheme for charitable and religious trusts and registered societies, holds 4.17 per cent stake, LSV Emerging Market Funds owns 1.65 per cent stake in Polaris.
Retail investors hold 9.3%
About 35,850 retail investors hold 9.3 per cent stake in the company.
Ranjan Kalia, CFO & EVP, Virtusa, had earlier said that full ownership of Polaris will enhance operational flexibility of the company.
“The delisting price is determined by the reverse book-building process and Virtusa will have the option to accept or reject the discovered price. We will accept the discovered price if it is reasonable and makes sense to Virtusa and its shareholders financially,” he had then said.
Profits, no dividend
It may be noted that ever since Virtusa took over the company, Polaris had stopped paying dividends in the last couple of years. This was despite Polaris making consistent profits.
For FY2016 and 2017, the company had reported standalone net profit of ₹89.76 crore and ₹99.34 crore, respectively. In the first two quarters of the current fiscal, it had reported profits of ₹16.93 crore and ₹54.85 crore, respectively.
The company had last paid dividend of ₹15 in 2015.
Correction
This copy has been modified to correct the delisting offer close date to February 5, from February 6.
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