The battle between Deepak Fertilizers and Zuari Chemicals’ Saroj Poddar jointly with Vijay Mallya for acquiring controlling stake in Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited (MCFL) has entered the final round with SEBI’s letter to the two suitors.

The letter, dated July 24, pertains to the bid to acquire a little over 3.08 crore equity shares of MCFL representing 26 per cent of its paid-up share capital.

While Deepak Fertilisers and its subsidiary SCM Soilfert Ltd have offered Rs 63 per share, Zuari Fertilizers and Chemicals, Zuari Agro Chemicals, United Breweries Holdings, Kingfisher Finvest India Ltd and McDowell Holdings Ltd have offered Rs 68.55 per share.

According to the letter, both the open offers are subject to receiving approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

Following CCI approval, both parties can begin communicating with the shareholders of MCFL for a maximum of 12 working days after which the tendering process can begin for a period of five days.

The last opportunity for revising the offer price per share from the two parties concerned can come three days before tendering ends.

In case one of the two acquirer parties does not get CCI approval, he has the right to withdraw the offer, the letter clarifies.

According to an industry watcher, the battle is now emerging as a “blind game” in which one party will not know what the other is proposing. Deepak Fertilizers currently owns 25.4 per cent in MCFL, while Poddar and Mallya own 16 and 22 per cent respectively.

At noon today, the MCFL stock had gained 1.34 per cent to stand at Rs 72 a share on a day when the market declined by 0.73 per cent. Since the acquisition battle began, the scrip has risen steadily and touched a 52 week high of Rs 78.30 on June 13.

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