Tata Sons Cmc Offer At Rs 281.26

Tata Sons today said it would make an open offer to acquire an additional 16.69 per cent stake in CMC, the state-owned software company, at Rs 281.26 per share.

The offer price is based on the average six-month high and low share price of CMC, as per Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) takeover code, and is higher than Tata Sons' acquisition price of Rs 197 a share for the 51 per cent government stake.

The offer size is lower than Sebi's minimum guideline of 20 per cent, and will buy out the entire floating stock. The government and CMC employees will hold the balance stake.

Full subscription to the offer will result in an outgo of Rs 71.09 crore, taking Tata Sons' total acquisition cost to over Rs 223 crore for the 67.69 per cent stake.

Last week, the Centre had approved the sale of its 51 per cent stake in CMC to Tata Sons for a consideration of Rs 152 crore (at Rs 197 a share), against a reserve price of Rs 108.8 crore.

Management control of CMC is expected to be handed over to the company on the day the open offer is made, that is on Saturday. Employees of CMC will get 6.31 per cent of the shares at one-third the bidding price of Rs 197 per share.

The offer will open on November 27, while the closing date of the offer is December 26. After opening at Rs 270, the CMC scrip on Friday closed at Rs 271.5 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Around 88,000 shares were changed over during the day.