Maran makes open offer for SpiceJet

Offer size estimated to be Rs 480 crore.

Days after acquiring nearly 38 per cent stake in SpiceJet for about Rs 740 crore, media magnate Kalanithi Maran today made an open offer to acquire another 20 per cent in the no-frills carrier for Rs 57.76 a share.

The open offer would involve an outgo of around Rs 480 crore, taking the overall deal size to Rs 1,220 crore. Last week, Maran offered to pick up 37.73 per cent in SpiceJet at Rs 47.25 a share, aggregating to Rs 739.57 crore, according to a statement from the airline.

Aiming to acquire a controlling stake in the low-cost airline, KAL Airways today made the mandatory open offer, a three per cent premium to Friday’s closing price of Rs 56.05 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The move came two days after Maran, chairman and managing director of the Chennai-based media powerhouse Sun Network, agreed to acquire a 37.73 per cent stake in the company on his individual capacity and through his aviation company KAL Airways.

“The acquirers hereby make this offer to the shareholders of the target (SpiceJet) to acquire up to 82,980,161 equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each, representing in aggregate 20 per cent of the target company at a price of Rs 57.76 per fully paid-up equity share,” the company’s offer manager, Enam Securities, said in a public statement. The offer would be launched on August 6 and close on August 25, it said.

Major promoter and US investor Wilbur Ross said he received a “very fair price” for offloading his entire 30 per cent stake in the airline to the Chennai-based industrialist and his company KAL Airways. “We find the price to be very satisfactory to us. We think it is a very fair price,” Ross said in Mumbai today.

Expecting a good premium in the open offer, the SpiceJet counter rallied as much as six per cent to Rs 59.55 in morning trade, but closed at Rs 55.30, down by 1.34 per cent over the previous close on BSE, spooked by the low premium in the open offer.