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The Original CHAUKIDAAR ,“TAKEOVER WATCHMAN” since 2007. CA. Arun Goenka* hands-on experience in the share market* deep knowledge of laws and account*one of the early players, pioneered an investment strategy in TAKEOVERS*The WIRC - of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, has honoured him with the ‘Recognition of CAs in Social Service’. * often invited by National business news; electronic and print media, for his views on SEBI related matters. * history of red-flagging 100+ cases to SEBI* contributes by giving inputs in drafting amendments to the regulation* Some of the suggestions reflected in subsequent regulatory changes: (a). In takeover of Cairn 3,750 Crores non-compete fees waived off and ultimately Removal of Non-compete fee in 2011 (b) November 2009 amending Regulation 11 (1). (c)Listing agreement baring promoters from voting on related party. (d) Disclosure of past performance by merchant bankers in case of IPO (e) SAST 2011 regulation 10(1)(h), (f) Counter Offer in case of Delisting (g) Interest payment to all in case of delays in Open Offers(05.06.20).

Friday, September 25, 2009

RAMPANT INSIDER TRADING IN ALL TAKEOVER CASES

CA. Arun Goenka
703 Meadows, Sahar Plaza, Andheri-Kurla Road, Andheri (E)
Mumbai 400 059 Phone& Fax 2838 1348
Email:goenkaarun@gmail.com


Lptp/MYDOC/takeover

1 September 2009

To,

Shri C.B. Bhave,
The Chairman
SEBI
SEBI Bhavan, 3rd Floor, B Wing,
Plot No. C-4A, G Block
Bandra Kurla Complex
Mumbai: 400051


Dear Sir,


Ref. Open Offer of CCAP Ltd..

The PA for the above referred Open Offer was announced on 06-Aug-09. As in the past so many cases this again is a glaring example of “INSIDER TRADING” The 26 week average is given in the PA as 19.52 and 2 week average as 43.46. The Open offer price is Rs.80. It is very clear that only some insider who were aware of the ensuing open offer at a high rate of Rs.80 were cornering the shares before the PA was made. This certainly calls for investigation into the trades done before 3 months of the date of the PA.

There is also a very interesting statement in the PA . Clause 1.4 (d) talks about a “written undated” resignation letters of Directors. Such undated documents apart from being undesirable are also illegal.

Shall be obliged to hear from you at the earliest.


Yours truly,

Arun Goenka




CA. Arun Goenka
703 Meadows, Sahar Plaza, Andheri-Kurla Road, Andheri (E)
Mumbai 400 059 Phone& Fax 2838 1348
Email:goenkaarun@gmail.com


Lptp/MYDOC/takeover

2 September 2009

To,

Shri C.B. Bhave,
The Chairman
SEBI
SEBI Bhavan, 3rd Floor, B Wing,
Plot No. C-4A, G Block
Bandra Kurla Complex
Mumbai: 400051


Dear Sir,


Ref. Open Offer of Maytas Infra Ltd..

The PA for the above referred Open Offer announced today Kindly note the following:

1) 1. PA Shows a 26 week average as Rs. 61.50 and 2 week average as Rs. 93.53 i.e. more than 50% higher. The Open offer price is Rs.112.80. As in the past so many cases this again is a glaring example of “INSIDER TRADING” It is very clear that only some insider who were aware of the change in control & management and ensuing open offer at a high rate were cornering the shares before the PA was made. This certainly calls for investigation into the trades done before 3 months of the date of the PA. If the menace of “INSIDER TRADING” has to be stopped, this case must be investigated in detail.
2) The Offer is under Regulation 10 & 12. Regulation 10 will be attracted on the day more than 15% shares/ voting rights came under the control of the Acquirer. It seems that this date is December 24, 2008
3) The price paid @ 112.80 by IL&FS to IFIN should be of no consequence for the Open offer. This is a private transaction between 2 Aquirers/PAC. Why this is mentioned in Clause (30)( I ) is not clear
4) The PA lacks complete details of the background of the transaction-
(a) what are the complete terms of Loan Against Shares agreement.
(b) Did the Acquirer have a Power of Attorney(PoA) from the pledgor ?
(c) The Acquirers must have stepped into the shoes of the Pledgor on default- what is this date
(d) when was pledge invoked?
(e) Details of CLB order especially --‘IL&FS shall foreclose its rights on 22.51% equity shares’. --Clause (10) of PA
(f) How was this possible for IL&FS to have a right on 37.01% shares without attracting Open offer?


Shall be obliged to hear from you at the earliest.


Yours truly,

Arun Goenka


































Lptp/MYDOC/takeover

7 September 2009

To,

Shri C.B. Bhave,
The Chairman
SEBI
SEBI Bhavan, 3rd Floor, B Wing,
Plot No. C-4A, G Block
Bandra Kurla Complex
Mumbai: 400051


Dear Sir,


Ref. Open Offer of Uttam Galva Steels Ltd..

The PA for the above referred Open Offer was announced on 07-Sept.-09. As in the past so many cases this again is a glaring example of “INSIDER TRADING”

The 26 week average is given in the PA as 47.93
and
2 week average as 97.82. i.e. more than double.

The Open offer price is Rs.120. It is very clear that only some insider who were aware of the ensuing open offer at a high rate of Rs.120 were cornering the shares before the PA was made. This certainly calls for investigation into the trades done before 3 months of the date of the PA.


Shall be obliged to hear from you at the earliest.


Yours truly,

Arun Goenka









Lptp/MYDOC/takeover

10 September 2009

To,

Shri Mr. Deb Kumar Sett,
Company Secretary & Compliance Officer,
Sumedha Fiscal Services Ltd.
Kolkata,


Dear Sir,


Ref. Open Offer of CCAP Ltd. Your letter dt. Sept.8, 2009


Your reply to my E-mail dated 01.09.09 is completely out of context and devoid of any material statement on the issues raised. There are 2 simple points:

a) Prima facie it appears that there has been “INSIDER TRADING” . People with advance information seem to have started buying the shares before the information came to public domain. The 26 week average is given in the PA as 19.52 and 2 week average as 43.46. ------Your response—not a word about “INSIDER TRADING”
b) The PA . Clause 1.4 (d) talks about a “written undated” resignation letters of Directors. Such undated documents apart from being undesirable are also illegal. The undated letter means that it can be used to manipulate the fact. If the person has resigned, put a date to it. Or else you will put a past date later on to manipulate the fact to suit your requirement. I am amazed at your audacity.

I simply wanted to bring such facts to the knowledge of persons whose prime responsibility is to stop “INSIDER TRADING” & enforce lawful conduct in the capital market.


Yours truly,

Arun Goenka












Lptp/MYDOC/takeover

15 September 2009

To,

Shri C.B. Bhave,
The Chairman
SEBI
SEBI Bhavan, 3rd Floor, B Wing,
Plot No. C-4A, G Block
Bandra Kurla Complex
Mumbai: 400051


Dear Sir,


Ref. Open Offer of Mathew Easow Research Securities Ltd.

The PA for the above referred Open Offer was announced on 03-Sept.-09. As in the past so many cases this again is a glaring example of “INSIDER TRADING”

The 26 week average is given in the PA as 8.59
and
2 week average as 16.08. i.e. almost double.

The Open offer price is Rs.19. It is very clear that only some insider who were aware of the ensuing open offer at a high rate of Rs.19 were cornering the shares before the PA was made. This certainly calls for investigation into the trades done before 3 months of the date of the PA.

Sir, in case the menace of “INSIDER TRADING” is to be stopped, SEBI must strong action immediately. You have all the prima facie evidences available – significant Jump in prices ahead of major announcement.

Shall be obliged to hear from you at the earliest.


Yours truly,

Arun Goenka

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Insider Trading & Price rigging

It has been observed that Open offers have become a favourite ground for market manipulators & insiders. Please note the following specific cases:

1. Open offer of Tata teleservices Maharastra Ltd. (TTML) ---Just prior to the announcement of Open offer the price & volume had gone up substantially giving clear signs of insider trading . Price & volume increased in the last week prior to the offer( page No. 45 OF OFFER DOCUMENT-price increased by 18.46% and volume by 361.87%.). Again on 12th March the price was manipulated to as low as Rs.15.70. Who will sell the shares at 15-16 when he could still tender in the Open offer at 24.70? Probably the price was rigged to encourage more people to tender their shares in the Open offer which was hugely undersubscribed.
2. Open Offer -- OCL Iron And Steel Ltd.---The PA carries the mandatory 26 Weeks & 2 weeks price, Rs. 7.47 & Rs.20.31respectively. The 270% jump in the price of the share just before the announcement of PA raises a question— whether the insiders are taking undue advantage of their privileged information?
3. Open Offer of Great Offshore Ltd.--- Again here the PA discloses 26 weeks average as Rs.257.04 and 2 weeks average as Rs.343.16 i.e. a jump of 33% just before the announcement.

GWALIOR CHEMICAL TAKEOVER

Lptp/mydoc/takeover/sebi

June 9, 2009

To,

Shri C.B. Bhave,
The Chairman
SEBI
SEBI Bhavan, 3rd Floor, B Wing,
Plot No. C-4A, G Blockce
Bandra Kurla Complex
Mumbai: 400051


Dear Sir,

Takeover of Gwalior Chemicals Ltd.

The Indian Corporates are always fast in adopting any smart move successfully executed by others in bypassing the law. Earlier in the case of Eicher motors Ltd. it happened and now the same model has been adopted by Gwalior Chemicals Ltd. Just examine the following:
1. A company with a market cap of Rs.266 Crs.—Gwalior Chemicals, Is being taken over at double the amount –Rs.536 Crs. and it does not amount to TAKEOVER?
2. If 15% of the shares were bought of the same co.—amounting to Rs. 40 Crs. –it will be take over.
3. Why would Mylan etc takeover cos like Matrix and come out with an Open Offer & later delisting offer? When a escape route is available in the present format it will be foolish not to exploit it.
4. By buying just the assets the Acquirers takes care of 2 steps at one go—avoids making an Open offer and also subsequent delisting exercise
5. If this loophole is not plugged soon we will have many dud or KHOKA companies listed on our exchanges.
6. Regulation 12 says Acquisition of control over a company—how then acquisition of control over substantial parts or whole of the company’s assets is not “ Acquisition of control” ?

You are requested to kindly examine the above and issue necessary directives to the acquirer to come out with an Open offer as per the SAST at the earliest.

Yours faithfully,


Arun Goenka

Saturday, May 30, 2009

FALCON & DUNLOP TYRES

Lptp/mydoc/takeover/falcon

May 30, 2009

To,

Shri C.B. Bhave,
The Chairman
SEBI
SEBI Bhavan, 3rd Floor, B Wing,
Plot No. C-4A, G Block
Bandra Kurla Complex
Mumbai: 400051


Dear Sir,

Reg.:- Open offer – Falcon Tyres


I am aghast and greatly aggrieved as an investor in the Indian Capital market. I earnestly request you to stop this malpractice immediately since this will have a cascading effect in so many other cases & the very foundation of investment in shares will be destroyed. Interest of a very large no. of share holders will suffer with consequent further loss of Public confidence in the Capital market.

It is quite unfortunate that inspite of the fact that SEBI & me are both working for the common objective –INVESTOR PROTECTION, yet we often find ourselves at cross-roads. In the recent case of TTML I brought out the non-compliance from the SAST to your knowledge and when I failed to get a proper response, I had to go to the High Court & now I am preparing for Supreme Court.

In the case of Falcon tyres the way the Acquirers are allowed many benefit illegally gives an impression that SEBI has got a benevolent disposition towards the defaulter.

Before SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) (SecondAmendment) Regulations, 2002 dated 9th September,2002 , the provision for payment of interest was not there in the regulation yet SEBI had asked the defaulting Acquirers for cos like-CASTROL, COLOUR CHEM & RAYBAN to pay interest @ 15% to all the shareholders for the period of delay. These directions of SEBI were challenged by the Acquirers. It was a major victory for SEBI that without there being any provision for payment of interest in the regulations, SEBI was able to get interest @ 15% for the investors .While in the case of CASTROL interest was paid to all the shareholders, in other cases the Acquirers were allowed to make some adjustment. SEBI in the meanwhile amended the regulations and specifically provided for payment of interest. The relevant provision stands as follows:
44 (i) directing the person concerned, who has failed to make a public offer or delayed the making of a public offer in terms of these Regulations, to pay to the shareholders, whose shares have been accepted in the public offer made after the delay, the consideration amount along with interest at the rate not less than the applicable rate of interest payable by banks on fixed deposits.

However in the present case of takeover of Falcon tyres, an attempt is being made to reverse the above progress. At the cost of small shareholders, the Acquirers are being doled out a bounty of Rs.4.79 lacs, for delaying & defaulting to announce the Open offer for more than 3 years.

Not being satisfied with the bounty of illegal benefits, the Acquirers keep on asking for more. In the corrigendum dated May 13, 2009 they are trying to further rob the investors of the meager interest at the rate of 10% (without compounding). They have now announced that dividend paid during the period will be adjusted. from the interest. This was not announced in the initial PA dated 01.02.2007. The shareholders like me who were holding on to their shares having faith on the law enforcement agency of the country that at least a nominal interest will be given, feel cheated.
a) First they are giving the lowest rate of interest ever allowed under the Regulations. The reasonable rate should be 15%. By their own admission, the Acquirers are paying 14% interest. The regulation says “at the rate not less than the applicable rate of interest payable by banks on fixed deposits.” This is not justified on any of the parameters:
Ø What is provided in the regulation
Ø what the shareholder would have earned if he was not deprived off the money and
Ø what the acquirer has earned/ saved by deploying/using that money.
b) Second, they are denying even this low interest to (by their own admission) more than 30% of the shareholders.
c) Third they want to further reduce such payment by adjusting dividend from the interest.

POINTS TO PONDER AGAINST ALLOWING THE ACQUIRER OPPORTUNITY TO DENY THE INVESTORS INTEREST:

When the law & practice being followed after September 2002 is that interest shall be paid “to the shareholders, whose shares have been accepted in the public offer”, why the Acquirers are allowed to short change the investors?
The interest allowed in the case of Open offer is not compounded whereas in the case of Banks it is compounded at periodic intervals—monthly, quarterly, half yearly or yearly.
In case of Bank FD the depositor willingly deposits his money because he may not find a better use of it at that time, but in the case of delay he is forcefully deprived of the use of his own funds and may be missing out on more rewarding opportunities.
Earlier the rate of interest payable was generally 4-5% higher than the FD rate. In the case of Castrol it was allowed@ 15% when the FD rate was around 8%. Only when the FD rate came down to 4-6% , the rate allowed under the Takeover code was lowered to 10%
When the offer is delayed for many years and the law provides for “interest at the rate not less than the applicable rate of interest payable by banks on fixed deposits”. Is it right to allow the defaulter the benefit of the lowest rate ever allowed under the regulations? Especially when for sometime during this period the prevalent rate was as high as 17% . Indian Overseas Bank, a PSU bank was offering 10.25% , Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd. Was offering 10.75% NABARD( fully owned by Govt. of India and RBI) 12.82%
When no defaulting Acquirer after the regulations were amended, allowed any smart trick of denying interest to the investors by such mechanism as period of continued holding or payment of dividend, why the present Acquirers are allowed to do so.
Is it not the basic tenets of Stock exchange that all the shares are at par—pari-passu and whoever buys the share at any point of time does so with all the right and obligation of his predecessor shareholder. A common example which will make this point very clear is the case of dividend payment. A person may be holding the share for the whole year, lets say from 1st April to 31st March but when he sells the share even after the year end the purchaser gets the dividend. Such purchaser may have held the share only for a couple of days as against the whole year by the seller. Although the profit that is being sought to be distributed was earned during the period when the seller was the shareholder and was rightfully entitled to such dividend. This is because the buyer steps into the shoes of the seller immediately on his purchase with all the rights and obligation attached to it. Taking it conversely, if the company has incurred losses in the past, the new incoming shareholder will have to bear the loss of his entire capital in case the company goes into liquidation. No doubt the risks and rewards should go together.
The Capital Market is one of the most matured market. All the past and future happenings are fully reflected in the current market price of a share. The price at which the shares are bought gives to the buyer all the rights that the seller had. That is to say all the expectations are completely discounted in the market Every development / event is immediately factored into the prevailing market price. Hence the Investors who bought the shares at high price taking into account the likely Open offer by the Plaintiff and receipt of interest will have to bear an unjustifiable loss.
However, in case the above point is not found to be acceptable than this would mean that the shareholder who sold shares earlier had to bear the loss i.e. the loss of interest that he would have earned. Justice will than demand that all such shareholders should be found out and paid the interest and duly compensated. Why the defaulter be rewarded with the booty?
The rules of trading in stock exchange will have to be re-written, as there will be two class of shares with different rights attached to them since all the shares being traded will not be pari-passu. the person who has purchased the shares as per the prevailing Stock Exchange/ SEBI guidelines has done so with the knowledge that he is purchasing them with all the rights attached to them, will have to suffer irreparable loss.
This will be against the laws of natural justice and will be discriminating between (i) shareholder who continue to hold the shares and Tender it in the open offer and who do not tender (ii) between those who continue to hold the shares & tender them and those who have sold them (iii) in the hands of the same shareholder who was continuously holding the share and have tendered them yet part of it was only accepted –(which is the most likely scenario), between the holding which was accepted and will earn interest & part of his holding that will not earn the interest.
This is a ploy by the Plaintiff to unduly enrich itself at the cost of the share holders. This should never be allowed. By this method the Acquirer is trying to save its payout on account of interest significantly, since majority of the shareholders would have already sold the shares. List of shareholders is not constant and the same set of shareholders who were the members of the company on the relevant date may not be the persons who have tendered the shares against the Open Offer. As everyone related to the capital market is aware The register of members / shareholders is a dynamic one and keeps on changing everyday. This is the very reason why there is a record date for any material benefit to be given to the shareholders. The Acquirer may save crores of Rupees of its liability on account of interest payment.
Even if for any unfathomable reason, you find that it is fair to allow the Acquirer deviate from the Regulations and not pay interest to all the shareholders, why they should not be asked to pay such interest to the shareholders who were holding shares as on that date regardless of the fact that they have tendered their shares or not.
Why the defaulters be allowed to enrich themselves at the cost of small shareholders? They should be asked to deposit the amount of interest denied to the shareholders in the Investor’s protection fund.
This may lead to a new kind of Malpractice of hiring out names/folios. Persons who were shareholders before the cut-off date June 2, 2006, may get a premium for using their name to tender shares in the open offer for third parties.
Such practice will restrict the liberty of the investor. The person who is holding the shares continuously from June 2, 2006 cannot sell it now without incurring heavy losses because the benefit of interest will be lost and the mechanism of Stock exchange of factoring all such benefits has been derailed. It is common knowledge that small investors put their meager savings in shares for rainy days—unfortunate illness or daughters marriage. But because of such benevolent attitude towards defaulters, they will have to postpone the treatment of their illness or marriage etc. till such time as the Plaintiff comes out with an open offer and fulfills his legal obligation. The small investor will hence forth be completely at the mercy of some scrupulous people who try all kind of tricks to avoid their legal liability and deprive of poor investors
It is impractical to enforce it truthfully. Shares are fungible commodity and mostly not being maintained in the physical form. It cannot be fully determined who were the shareholders as on that date. The following points will illustrate the matter further:

a. Some persons might be holding the shares in the physical form as on June 2, 2006 and got them subsequently dematerialsed and tendered it in the electronic form.
b. In some cases transfers would have taken place due to process of law, transmission without there being an actual change in the beneficial interest.
c. Consolidation of family holding when various folios were consolidated. This has actually happened in large nos. after Demat was introduced.
d. In some cases transposition of the names would have taken place resulting in the change of folio numbers.
e. Since shares held in the Demat form do not have any distinctive nos. how it can be determined that the shares tendered against the open offers are the very same shares that were held as on the relevant date. Some Shareholder would have been holding the shares on the relevant date but subsequently sold them and bought again before the tendering date.
f. Shares can be rematerialsed also, but in this case the folio no. will change and will have a current date.
g. How the interest will be calculated in case of someone who was a shareholder as on June 2, 2006 but bought additional shares and tendered them against the open offer, part of which were only accepted.
h. In cases where there is a shift in the DP by the investor how it can be determined what was the actual date of holding.
i. How will the Original Shareholder be compensated for loss of interest on those shares which were not accepted because of participation by new shareholders and consequent over-subscription on the Open offer. For example the intention is to allow interest to all those who were holding shares as on June 2, 2006 , but if a such a person holding share tenders it only about 40% of it is likely to be accepted because others will also participate in the offer. Thus he will not be able to earn interest on that part of his holding which has not been accepted.
j. In case of takeover of Investment companies although the beneficial interest would have transferred, yet the new shareholder will be able to get the benefit of interest payment contrary to the stated intention of the Acquirer. This again proves that it is against the small shareholders.
k. Since there was no “Record Date” as on June 2, 2006 some investors although holding the shares did not get them transferred in their name, such investors will lose for no fault of theirs.
l.

I have written 2 mails to the Merchant Banker & the registrar, they failed to tell me on how many shares I will get the interest.

I would request you to please intervene now, it is never too late; and direct the acquirer to pay interest as per the regulation to all those shareholders who tender their shares and whose shares are accepted.

Shall be obliged to hear from you at the earliest.

Yours truly,

Arun Goenka

Friday, February 13, 2009

TTML Case

BSE/MYDOC/AG
18th November 2008
To,
The Chairman SEBI
SEBI Bhavan,
3rd Floor, B Wing,
Plot No. C-4A, G Block,
Bandra Kurla Complex,
Mumbai: 400 051
Dear Sir,
Reg: Open Offer of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd. (TTML)
Kindly not the following observations in Public Announcement (PA) for Open Offer of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd.
1. Tata Sons Ltd. (TSL) has been teamed up as PAC (person acting in concert) with the acquirer NTT DOCOMO INC. Japan. TSL is already identified as promoter (TSL Holds 20.72% shares in TTML) in the corporate filing by TTML as on 30th September 2008. Thus the Open Offer should be under Reg. 10,11 & 12 and not merely Reg. 10 & 12
2. TSL has been identified as PAC (“Refer clause 8 of PA”) in terms of Regulation 2(1)(e)(1) of the SEBI (SAST) Regulations, however the definition o PAC given in the said clause does not fit TSL. TSL is not acting “for a common objective or purpose of substantial acquisition of share or voting rights or gaining control over the target company” as stipulated in the regulation. Rather TSL’s objectives are just the reverse & contradictory. TSL as such can not become PAC of the acquirer.
3. In clause 4 of PA it is mentioned that (“The Acquirer also proposes to enter into a share Purchase Agreement (“SPA”)”),with TSL to acquire a further 6% of the fully diluted equity share capital of TTSL”) thus on the one hand TSL is selling the shares and on the other wants to buy the shares through the open offer. Such arbitrage opportunities can not be allowed.
4. Even the reputed promoters like Docomo & Tata’s are shying away from acting in a transparent manner and disclosing full facts of valuation. Negotiated price, obligatory for them to disclose as per the regulations, has not been given. Please refer clause 16(a) of PA --against negotiated price it is written ”Not Applicable” This statement is far from truth. When the object and interest is the target company, obviously a specific valuation must have been attributed to Tata Teleservices Ltd. (TTSL) interest in the target company. It is worthwhile to note that the Acquirer & PAC let the whole world know the basis of valuation which has been reported as $354(Rs. 17,271) per subscriber (see attached report).
In the light of the above you are requested to please:
1. Clarify whether a promoter and seller can also be an acquirer for the open offer? If not, TSL may be asked to not act as PAC.
2. As per the press report attached TTSL has been valued at Rs. 50604 Crs. On the basis of 29.30 million subscribers at Rs. 17,271/- ($354) per subscriber, accordingly the valuation for TTML can be worked out. On 20th May 2008 TTML informed NSE that it has crossed 5 Million Subscribers. This means that the valuation of TTML has been considered at Rs.8,635 Crs. Or Rs.45 per share. NTT DOCOMO and Tata’s must be asked to give truthfully the valuation per share of TTML considered for the transaction.
3. The negotiated price as above must be disclosed & in case it is higher than the offer price of Rs.24.70, then the offer price must be suitably revised.
Thanking you
Yours truly,
Arun Goenka
CC
Ms Soma Majumdar--SEBI
Mr. Nikhil Saraf--Lazard

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Disa India Ltd.


  • BSE Code = 500068

  • Face Value of Shares = Rs. 10.00

  • Offer Type = u/r 10,11 & 12

  • Offer Rate = Likely to be revised

  • Date of Opening = 05 Feb 2009

  • Date of Closure = 24 Feb 2009

  • Date of Payment = 11 Mar 2009

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Open Offer of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd. (TTML)

Observations in Public Announcement (PA) for Open Offer of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd.

1. Tata Sons Ltd. (TSL) has been teamed up as PAC (person acting in concert) with the acquirer NTT DOCOMO INC. Japan. TSL is already identified as promoter (TSL Holds 20.72% shares in TTML) in the corporate filing by TTML as on 30th September 2008. Thus the Open Offer should be under Reg. 10,11 & 12 and not merely Reg. 10 & 12

2. TSL has been identified as PAC (“Refer clause 8 of PA”) in terms of Regulation 2(1)(e)(1) of the SEBI (SAST) Regulations, however the definition o PAC given in the said clause does not fit TSL. TSL is not acting “for a common objective or purpose of substantial acquisition of share or voting rights or gaining control over the target company” as stipulated in the regulation. Rather TSL’s objectives are just the reverse & contradictory. TSL as such can not become PAC of the acquirer.


3. In clause 4 of PA it is mentioned that (“The Acquirer also proposes to enter into a share Purchase Agreement (“SPA”)”),with TSL to acquire a further 6% of the fully diluted equity share capital of TTSL”) thus on the one hand TSL is selling the shares and on the other wants to buy the shares through the open offer. Such arbitrage opportunities can not be allowed.

4. Even the reputed promoters like Docomo & Tata’s are shying away from acting in a transparent manner and disclosing full facts of valuation. Negotiated price, obligatory for them to disclose as per the regulations, has not been given. Please refer clause 16(a) of PA --against negotiated price it is written ”Not Applicable” This statement is far from truth. When the object and interest is the target company, obviously a specific valuation must have been attributed to Tata Teleservices Ltd. (TTSL) interest in the target company. It is worthwhile to note that the Acquirer & PAC let the whole world know the basis of valuation which has been reported as $354(Rs. 17,271) per subscriber (see attached report).

In the light of the above you are requested to please:

1. Clarify whether a promoter and seller can also be an acquirer for the open offer? If not, TSL may be asked to not act as PAC.

2. As per the press report attached TTSL has been valued at Rs. 50604 Crs. On the basis of 29.30 million subscribers at Rs. 17,271/- ($354) per subscriber, accordingly the valuation for TTML can be worked out. On 20th May 2008 TTML informed NSE that it has crossed 5 Million Subscribers. This means that the valuation of TTML has been considered at Rs.8,635 Crs. Or Rs.45 per share. NTT DOCOMO and Tata’s must be asked to give truthfully the valuation per share of TTML considered for the transaction.
3. The negotiated price as above must be disclosed & in case it is higher than the offer price of Rs.24.70, then the offer price must be suitably revised.