Tech Mahindra, the new owner of Satyam, has advised the crisis-hit IT firm's shareholders to wait till June 22, the last date for revising the offer price, before tendering their shares.
The open offer for acquiring 20 per cent equity in Satyam at Rs 58 a share is set to commence on June 12 and would end on July 1.
While market regulator SEBI has ruled that the open offer price cannot go below Rs 58 per share, the acquirer, in its public announcement, has said that it can raise the offer price by June 22.
"As the offer price cannot be revised during seven working days prior to the closure of the offer, it would, therefore, be in the interest of shareholders to wait until the commencement of that period to know the final offer price ...," Tech Mahindra said in a statement.
Tech Mahindra, which won the bid to acquire Satyam Computer Services, has made a public announcement to acquire 20 per cent of the IT company through its wholly-owned subsidiary Venturbay Consultants, a move that is aimed at increasing the new owners' stake to 51 per cent.
Earlier, while exempting Satyam from following various provisions of the Takeover Regulations, the Securities and Exchange Board of India said that the public offer price would not be less than the price paid by the successful bidder.
As Tech Mahindra won the bid to acquire Satyam by offering to pay Rs 58 a share, it would be deemed as the minimum public offer price under the SEBI directive.
Pursuant to winning the bid, Tech Mahindra and acquirer Venturbay, are required to increase their stake to 51 per cent in Satyam Computer through a public offer to buy additional shares from public.
Earlier, the Company Law Board allowed Venturbay to acquire 31 per cent shares of Satyam by way of preferential allotment and permitted the company to purchase another 20 per cent equity through public offer.
Venturbay, according to a Satyam release, has received in-principle approvals from the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange for preferential allotment of about 30 crore (300 million) equity shares of Rs 2 each at a premium of Rs 56 per share.
The Tech Mahindra subsidiary, as per the CLB ruling, would not be allowed to sell equity acquired through preferential allotment and open offer for three years.
According to the CLB order, there will be a "lock in period of three years for shares, allotted on preferential basis and also acquired by way of public offer, and also the preferential allotment, if made subsequently, from the dates of allotment/acquisition."
