Paul No To Henkel

This was because the offer made to Shaw Wallace & Co, which holds 55 per cent in CalChem through eight group subsidiaries, was higher than the offer made to him, Paul told Business Standard.

Under the present Sebi takeover guidelines, a minority shareholder has to be made the same offer as to the majority stakeholder, he said. Henkel Spic India, through which Henkel sought to invest in Calcutta Chemicals, had earlier made an open offer to shareholders through Standard Chartered Bank. The German multinational had, in April, signed a memorandum of understanding with Paul to buy out his 26 per cent stake at Rs 205 per share.

The total amount that Henkel offered to pay Paul was Rs 4.25 crore. On the other hand, Shaw Wallace was believed to have been offered over Rs 12 crore for its stake in CalChem, which works out to almost Rs 300 per share, Paul pointed out.

With equity holdings of both Shaw Wallace and Company and Paul in CalChem, Henkel would have come to control 81 per cent in the consumer products company.

The memorandum of understanding with Paul, signed during the same time as that with Shaw Wallace, had expired on July 3. Paul said that he was still interested in divesting his stake provided he gets a lucrative offer.

Though Henkel is believed to have renewed interest in buying out Shaw Wallaces consumer products division, the German multinational has not yet initiated any fresh dialogue with Paul after the expiry of the memorandum of understanding.