Essar Oil Ltd. (EOL) promoters on Wednesday announced the successful completion of the company’s delisting offer, which has emerged as the largest privatisation bid in the history of corporate India. EOL is
valued at Rs.38,000crore ($5.75 billion) of market capitalisation.
The promoters, Oil Bidco (Mauritius)
Limited, have acquired 10.1 crore of the 14.25 crore shares held by
public shareholders through an offer, as against the requirement of 9.26
crore shares for delisting, Oil Bidco said in a statement here.
The shareholders tendered their shares
between December 15 and 21, through the reverse book-building window
made available under the delisting regulations.
While the floor price for the delisting
was set at Rs.146.05 per share, Oil Bidco has agreed to pay Rs.262.80
per share — a premium of 80 percent.
The Rs.3,745crore that will be paid to
shareholders makes this the largest payout to privatise a
publicly-listed company in India, Oil Bidco claimed.
The shareholders who have not tendered
their scrips in the delisting offer can do so at the delisting price for
a period of one year from the date of delisting.
Commenting on the transaction, Essar’s
founder chairman Shashi Ruia said: “We are happy that we have been able
to reward our public and institutional shareholders for the faith they
reposed in us over the years. I want to take this opportunity to thank
investors, stock exchanges and regulators for their support in this
journey.”
Over the years, Essar Group, through
privatisation of its corporate entities Essar Oil Ltd., Essar Ports
Ltd., Essar Steel Ltd. and India Securities Ltd., has made a payout of
over Rs.7,200 crore to investors, thus providing substantial returns.
With this transaction, Essar ranks among
one of the world’s largest privately-held conglomerates with
large-scale, world-class operations across the globe, spanning oil
refining and marketing, power, steel, ports, shipping, EPC and BPO.
Essar businesses have revenues of over $35 billion and employ more than
60,000 people.
