Gillette India floor price fixed at Rs 1,650

FMCG major Gillette India on Tuesday said its promoters will sell shares at Rs 1,650 apiece, a move that would help them rake in over Rs 470 crore if the offer for sale (OFS) is successful.

The floor price is at an over 15 per cent discount over Tuesday's closing price of Rs 1,959.55 apiece.

The OFS shall take place on a separate window of the exchanges. It will commence on Wednesday at 9:15 a.m. and close on the same day at 3:30 p.m.

Gillette India's promoters would sell 28,57,744 equity shares of face value Rs 10 each aggregating to an about 8.77 per cent of the total paid up equity share capital of the company through OFS route.

The share sale is part of the company's effort to comply with the minimum public shareholding norms given by market watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

The floor price has been fixed at Rs 1,650 per share, Gillette India said in regulatory filing to the bourses. At this price, these shares would be worth about Rs 471.52 crore. The upcoming share sale follows a prolonged regulatory battle between Gillette India's promoters and Sebi.

According to the company, S K Poddar, Akshay Poddar, Shradha Agarwala, Jyotsna Poddar, Saroj Kumar Poddar, Adventz Investments and Holdings, Adventz Finance, Adventz Securities Enterprises, Planon Group, Globalware Trading & Holdings, Procter & Gamble India Holdings B V, form part of the promoter group of Gillette India.

Earlier in September, Gillette India had announced a fresh plan to meet the minimum public holding norms under which its US-based promoter P&G and Poddar Group would sell part of their respective holdings.

As per the plan, P&G would sell a 0.9 per cent stake and the Poddar Group would also bring down its holding to below 5 per cent through part sale of equity.

Further, S K Poddar and A Poddar will step down from the Gillette India board and on approval of the resolution passed by Gillette India shareholders in a general meeting or a postal ballot. The remaining shareholding of the Poddar Group shall be considered as public shareholding.

Sebi had earlier imposed certain penalties on the company's promoters for failing to comply the shareholding rules. As per minimum public shareholding norms, promoters cannot hold more than 75 per cent in any listed company in the private sector.

Gillette India is jointly promoted by Procter and Gamble Co and Poddar Group, with the promoters holding a 88.76 per cent in the company.

In 2012, the company had proposed a three-stage plan to bring down the promoter holding to 75 per cent, which was turned down by Sebi as it involved re-classification of a top company executive as non-promoter entity.