Ravi Ranjan Prasad

Mumbai, Sept. 25 Emami’s open offer for Zandu Pharmaceuticals’ shares will open as scheduled on Friday, after the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) decided not to pass any order restraining the process.

Zandu had approached SAT against Emami’s open offer.

With the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) already looking into a similar complaint by Zandu, the SAT order issued on Thursday said that it would not be proper to pass any interim order now, and fixed November 18 as the date for the preliminary hearing.

Emami’s open offer opens on Friday and closes on October 15. Since the next SAT hearing comes almost a month after the open offer closes, a market expert questioned whether the exercise would be of mere academic importance. Zandu had appealed to the SAT last week against the approval given recently by SEBI to Emami’s open offer. Zandu alleged there were irregularities in the acquisition of the shares of Zandu by Emami’s promoters.

Emami promoters hold 27.51 per cent stake in Zandu after they acquired 23.33 per cent stake held by Vaidya family on May 28 and May 29, which triggered the open offer.

Zandu’s appeal said that the acquirers should not be allowed to acquire further shares in pursuance to the public announcement till the next date of hearing and should be directed to inform the public shareholders about the pendency of appeal. But the SAT order said: “We are not inclined to pass any such order.” At the hearing, Emami’s counsel argued that there was no merit in the appeal against its open offer.

Meanwhile Emami revised the open offer price to Rs 15,000 for each share of Rs 100 face value from Rs 7,315 announced earlier. Zandu’s shares closed up 3.80 per cent at Rs 15,331, on the BSE.

Zandu has pursued several channels to stave off Emami’s takeover moves.

After the Vaidyas sold out to Emami, Zandu approached SEBI in June. Subsequently, it approached the Company Law Board (CLB) which directed it back to SEBI. Zandu then approached the Bombay High Court in early August, which then directed the CLB to look into the issue and pass an order in 15 days.

As a result, Zandu’s annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled in August got postponed.

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