MUMBAI, Dec 22: Essar Oil’s delisting offer has got stuck in unusual “technical issues” with the buyback offer from the promoters getting more than sufficient bids, but a large block of tendered shares failing to be ‘confirmed’ within the stipulated time.
The issue is being looked into by the regulator, in consultations with the exchange and others, sources said, while adding that a decision could be taken soon on whether to allow the ‘unconfirmed’ shares as valid tender.
The delisting offer, which closed yesterday, received bids for an estimated 10.1 crore shares, as against a requirement for 9.26 crore shares for the offer to succeed.
However, a large chunk of 1.98 crore shares, presumably from the state-run LIC, remained ‘unconfirmed’ on the stock exchange platform till the time of the closure of the offer.
Sources said the bids from LIC came well within the scheduled time as shares tendered even later than LIC’s bid got confirmed, but some ‘technical issues’ led to the LIC shares remaining in the ‘unconfirmed category’.
The issue is being looked into by all the entities concerned — the company, LIC, stock exchange BSE and the custodian for LIC shares StockHolding Corp. There were no immediate official comments from either of the entities.
The delisting offer saw shares being tendered at a Reverse Book Build discovered price of Rs 262.80 each which is at about 80 per cent premium to floor price of Rs 146.05.
“This being purely a technical process issue, has been referred by BSE to Sebi for their guidance,” a source said.
(PTI)
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