Oilmax Energy Pvt Ltd has made an open offer to the shareholders of Asian Oilfield Services at ₹32.40 a share. The former plans to acquire 26 per cent stake or 58 lakh shares in Asian Oilfield Services.

The open offer size is ₹18.806 crore, Asian Oilfield informed the stock exchanges.

The open offer was triggered after Oilmax Energy on Tuesday entered into a share purchase agreement with Samara Capital Partners Fund I Ltd, part of the promoter group, to purchase 56.32 per cent stake or 1.257 crore shares held by the latter in the oil major, for about ₹30 crore.

Acquisition since 2007 Private equity firm Samara Capital Partners had first entered Asian Oilfield Services in 2007 by picking up about 13 per cent stake. It had later increased its stake to around 36 per cent in 2010.

It had further increased its stake in 2013, which triggered an open offer. Then Samara had offered ₹21.50 a share to buy up to 58 lakh equity shares from public shareholders of Asian Oilfield Services.

The PE major had increased its shareholding in Asian Oilfield Services to 56.32 per cent, after completing an open offer, though it could mop up just 0.03 per cent stake from the public through the offer.

Public holding at 43.86% Currently, public holding stands 43.86 per cent stake in Asian Oilfield. Among them include Elara India Opportunities Fund and Religare Finvest. About 8,680 small investors hold 25.16 per cent stake in the company while 34 high net worth individuals hold 7.64 per cent stake.

Asian Oilfield Services had reported a loss of ₹10.31 crore for the quarter ended December 2015 on revenues of ₹3.47 crore. For the full year ending March 2015, the company had reported a loss of ₹16.76 crore and revenues of ₹1.37 crore.

On Monday, Asian Oilfield shares ended down 2.2 per cent at ₹33 on the NSE.

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