HUL open offer subscribed 67.5%, Unilever gets 32cr shares

Unilever's USD 5-billion open offer to increase stake in Hindustan Unilever (HUL) upto 75 percent closed on Thursday. Parent company Unilever hiked stake in HUL by 14.8 percent to 67.28 percent and received 32 crore HUL shares for a consideration of Rs 19,202 crore. The USD 4.85-billion open offer for HUL witnessed 65.7 percent subscription, reports CNBC-TV18.

Also Read: HUL won't go sub-550/sh post Unilever open offer: StanChart  

It is a voluntary open offer for 22.5 percent stake at an open offer price of Rs 600 per share taking the entire deal size to a massive Rs 29,200 crore. Unilever had chosen not to revise the price upwards calling the final open offer price fair and reasonable.

The entire success of the Unilever open offer lies in the hands of the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) who hold 22.1 percent stake. In fact the institutional holding of the entire free-float is substantially higher. Institutions hold almost 30 percent in the open offer of which FIIs hold 22.1 percent stake and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) close to an 8 percent in the company.

There are top six institutional holders names like Aberdeen, LIC and Oppenheimer or Virtus Emerging Markets Fund. Aberdeen holds close to 5 percent, LIC holds approximately 3.5 percent and both have chosen to sit out of the open offer calling the open offer price not attractive enough and not at a significant premium to the stock's trading price of Rs 587.40.