UB Group supremo Vijay Mallya is in deep trouble with his arch rival Kishore Chhabria finally making an open for liquor firm Herbertsons Ltd, originally owned by Mallya. Chhabria made the open offer following a Securities Appellate Tribunal directive. Chhabria and Associates are planning to acquire additional 20 per cent stake at Rs 90.50 per share plus interest.The offer for 19,04,465 shares of the company would open on October 3 and close on November 1, 2003, Lazard India Ltd, manager to the offer, said in a statement here today.Personally, Chhabrias do not hold any stake in the company while associates including, Veneer Investment & Finance Ltd, Algid Investment & Finance Ltd and IMFA Holdings Pvt Ltd, hold 49.07 per cent of the paid-up capital.The last date for making a competitive bid is September 11, 2003. It is to be seen whether Mallya—who will lose the company now—will make a counter offer to Chhabria’s offer.On August 1, setting aside Sebi’s order, the SAT had ruled that Chhabria should make an open offer with October 27, 1994 as a reference date to calculate the offer price and also pay 15 per cent interest from February 24, 1995 till the date of actual payment of consideration for shares.In February 2002, Sebi had asked Chhabria’s to divest their stake in excess of 10 per cent in the market. SAT, in a separate order, had also reversed Sebi’s order asking Mallya to divest his holding in excess of 21.38 per cent stake in the company through offer.On August 5, Mallya had claimed he was negotiating with Kishore to buy out his entire holding in Herbertsons. Mallya has already filed a petition with SAT to stop him from making an open offer. It is slated to come up for hearing on August 25. On Thursday, the stock of Herbertsons opened at Rs 60 on BSE and closed at Rs 63, which was also the intra-day high.Chhabria was inducted into Herbertsons by Mallya after he split with his late elder brother Manu Chhabria. As a quid pro quo, Chhabria brought his firm BDA Ltd — makers of Officer’s Choice whiskey — into the UB fold.However, both partners backstabbed each other by buying more stake in Herbertsons from the market by keeping the other in the dark. Soon Mallya and Chhabria were fighting a battle in which the latter had hiked his stake from 27 per cent to over 49 per cent.
