Burman family open to hike Eveready stake

KOLKATA: Burman family, the single largest shareholder of Eveready Industries, has no plans for taking over the company but is open to acquiring additional stake, Mohit Burman has said, amid promoters' shareholding falling below 10 per cent.

Mohit Burman is a senior member of the Burman family and Vice Chairman of Dabur India.

With lenders, including IndusInd Bank, invoking pledged shares in recent weeks, promoter group Khaitan family's stake in

Eveready Industries has fallen below 10 per cent, according to stock market data.

"We are ready to evaluate purchase for any additional shares including from the IndusInd Bank. But, our headroom is about four per cent.

We will keep our holding below 25 per cent," Dabur India Vice Chairman Mohit Burman told PTI from Greece on Sunday.

He also indicated that the family does not have plans for any hostile management takeover bid.

The Burman family has around 20 per cent stake in the company, which is listed on the BSE and the NSE.

Under Sebi norms, if the stake of an existing shareholder in a listed company reaches 25 per cent, then that shareholder would be required to make an open offer.

Recently, the Khaitan family had indicated that they were ready to jointly manage Eveready Industries.

When asked whether the family would be interested in jointly managing the company with the Khaitan family, Burman said it was too early to talk about such a scenario.

At the end of March 2019, the Khaitan family had about 44 per cent stake in the company and that came down to 22.16 per cent as on June 30, 2020, according to the stock market data.