Saint Gobain sets buyback floor price 53% lower

MUMBAI: French multinational Saint Gobain has offered to buy back the 14% stake it does not own in its Indian unit at a floor price of Rs 29.49 per share, 53% lower than the stock's closing price on Monday. Floor price is the minimum price an acquirer has to offer public shareholders during buybacks.

The $22-billion glass maker will buy back the shares of Saint Gobain Sekurit from public shareholders through a reverse book-building process between June 5 and June 11.

At Monday's closing price of Rs 63.30, the French promoters will have to shell out around Rs 86 crore to buy back the shares and delist the company from BSE. But, the final payout can only be assessed based on the eventual acceptance price.

Saint Gobain has set an indicative price of Rs 31 per share for the buyback. ET had reported on April 18 that the MNC will soon unveil its delisting offer.

Saint Gobain Sekurit secured shareholders' approval for delisting in July 2011, but the parent did not go ahead with it then as it felt that the valuations were high. The stock price has been on an upswing and has almost doubled since December last year.