Crisil locks at 20% upper circuit on McGraw Hill's open offer

MUMBAI: Shares of Crisil today rose sharply by 20 per cent, after McGraw Hill Financial Inc said it will make a voluntary open offer to raise holding in the domestic rating agency to 75 per cent in a deal worth about Rs 1,900 crore.

Following the news, shares of the company shot up by 20 per cent to Rs 1,126.60 -- its upper circuit limit on the BSE.

At the NSE, the stock spurted by 20 per cent to touch its highest trading permissible limit for the day at Rs 1,129.90.

Tracking gains in the stock, the market capitalisation of the rating agency soared by Rs 1,451 crore to Rs 8,045 crore.

The deal values Crisil at around Rs 8,600 crore. McGraw Hill currently owns 52.77 per cent in the Mumbai-based Crisil and plans to acquire up to 15.7 million shares, aggregating to 22.23 per cent equity, through the open offer and will be paid in cash, the US company said in a regulatory filing to the BSE.

McGraw Hill said it would pay Rs 1,210 a share, a premium of almost 20 per cent over the share price on Friday on the BSE at Rs 938.85.

Meanwhile, in a weak broader market, the BSE 30-share Sensex ended the day at 19,610.48, down 149.82 points.