ITC Hotels, which has nutured an ambition to takeover Oberoi Hotels’ praent company EIH, has not given in just yet because of a newpartnership between EIH and Anjalit Singh totaling to 52%.
YC Deveshwar, chairman at ITC, which owns ITC Hotels, told the EcnomicTimes newspaper that he is open to a more aggressive takeover option if the need arises. He was quoted as saying: “Generally, ITC is averse to hostile approaches for takeovers. But if someone else enters the fray, we may rethink our approach.”
HotelierIndia.com has been following the ITC-EIH developments and exclusively reported on Nov 2 that EIH had turned down ITC’s offer allowing the Oberois to manage their company since the tobacco-led conglomerate’s main interest was in owning the assets. CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY.
ITC owns 14.98% of EIH stock, a shade below the 15% mark, where it would then be compulsory for it to make an open offer for further share purchases. However, Deveshwar indicated that he was not going to start a hostile takeover, but position himself to gain leverage when the opportunity presented itself.
The newspaper report also mentioned a source explaining an ITC plan to raise its EIH stake to 25%, 1% below the mark which would give it veto powers on the EIH board.
