Essar to pay additional Rs 880 crore to minority shareholders

New Delhi: Ruias-owned Essar Group on Monday said it will pay an additional Rs 880 crore to minority shareholders of its erstwhile company, Essar Oil, following its takeover by Russia's Rosneft and its partners for USD 12.9 billion.

Minority shareholders of Essar Oil, who had participated in the company's delisting in 2015, will get an additional Rs 75.48 per share, Essar said in a statement.

This would be in addition to Rs 262.80 per share they had got on delisting.

Rosneft bought 49.13 percent in Essar Oil and a consortium of European trader Trafigura and Russian fund UCP a similar stake in the USD 12.9 billion deal.

Essar said it received Rs 338.28 per share and, as per its previous commitment, is sharing the same with minority shareholders.

"Essar Energy Holdings Ltd (EEHL) and Oil Bidco (Mauritius) Ltd (OBML), the promoters of Essar Oil Ltd (EOL), are pleased to announce that they will pay to former minority shareholders, who tendered EOL shares in the delisting offer, an additional amount of Rs 75.48 per share, based on the current closing numbers," the statement said.

The payment of around Rs 880 crore will be in addition to the Rs 3,064 crore that the minority shareholders had got following EOL's delisting in 2015.

Essar Founder Shashi Ruia said: "We have always believed in creating value for all our shareholders. I am extremely happy with this outcome where we could maximise returns for our shareholders who had invested and believed in us."

Stating that the Rosneft-Essar Oil transaction created many records, he said the additional payout to shareholders over and above the delisting price is another first in the history of corporate India.

"This resonates with our philosophy of rewarding shareholders handsomely," he said.

EOL was valued at Rs 2,000 crore around the time of its listing in 1995, and has now been valued at about Rs 50,400 crore, a growth of 2,420 per cent.

This value creation was made possible through continued strategic investments and growth of the businesses since commencement.

EEHL Director Dhanpat Nahata said: "Essar Energy has created value not only for itself but also for the minority shareholders. The additional payment to minority shareholders is unprecedented as they got exit and liquidity upon delisting in December 2015, retained the upside from the transaction that has closed 20 months later, without carrying any downside risk."

The promoters will shortly issue a public notice and the additional payout will be made within two months thereafter.

In the delisting, of the 14.25 crore shares held by public shareholders, OBML acquired 11.66 crore shares as against the requirement of 9.26 crore shares for delisting.

The shareholders had tendered their shares through the reverse book building window. While the floor price for the delisting was set at Rs 146.05 per share in accordance with a SEBI-mandated formula, OBML agreed to pay Rs 262.80 per share, a premium of 80 percent.

With the additional payout, the total price paid represents a premium of about 132 percent.