Billionaire borthers Shashi and Ravi Ruia are looking to buy the rest of Indian energy group Essar in a £200million deal.
The pair’s Essar Global Fund said today it could offer 70p for every share it does not already own, and 80 US cents per share for the company’s 4.25% convertible bonds maturing in 2016.
Essar Energy, which owns the UK’s second-largest fuel refinery, sees robust long term energy demand in India.
The current proposal is a 6 percent premium to Essar Energy’s last London traded price of 66p pence, and comes after the Ruia Brothers said they were considering an offer for the firm either by themselves or as part of a consortium.
The Ruia brothers, whose interests include oil refining, coal mining, steel, ports and power generation, had a net worth of $10.2 billion in 2011, ranking them fourth among India’s wealthiest people, according to Forbes magazine.
Essar Global has completed deals worth $1.7 billion in the past 5 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
An independent committee of the board with Philip Aiken as chairman will consider the terms of Essar Global’s proposal, the producer said in its statement.