MCF fortifies as battle intensifies
Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers (MCF) is showing tremendous activity, with volumes rising 11 times and stock price is up almost 9% at Rs.93.70. And this is after spurting to an intra day high at Rs.98.35. Its 52-week high stands at Rs.102.65.
The stock has zoomed up today also after it received another open offer from Saroj Poddar led, Zuari Agro. It announced yesterday late evening that it wants to acquire 3.07 crore equity shares or 25.90% stake at a price of Rs.91.92/share, aggregating Rs.282 crore. This price is at a premium of almost 7% over yesterday’s closing of Rs.86.15.
This is a fierce battle for takeover between Deepak Fertilisers and Zuari. The former’s open offer closed on 20th Oct and it managed to increase its stake to around 32% while that of Zuari currently stands at 38.4%.
This battle began way back in April’13 when Zuari bought 10% stake in MCF through open market. This was followed up by Deepak acquiring 24.46% and then Zuari hiked its stake to 16.43%. Subsequent buys through open offers have now made the battle really a closely fought one.