When a public announcement is made for an open offer to acquire shares of a target company, any individual or entity other than the acquiring party making the initial announcement has the right to issue a public announcement for an open offer within fifteen working days from the detailed public statement made by the first acquirer.
The open offer must entail a number of shares that, along with shares held by the acquirer and those acting in concert with them, equals or exceeds the holding of the first acquirer, including the shares proposed to be acquired under the offer and any agreements for share sales underlying the open offer.
No person is allowed to make a public announcement for an open offer to acquire shares, or engage in any transaction triggering the obligation for such an announcement, after the fifteen-day period mentioned above and until the expiration of the offer period for that open offer. Unless the initial open offer is conditional on a minimum acceptance level, competing offers cannot be conditional on minimum acceptance levels.
Additionally, no person can make a public announcement for an open offer or engage in transactions requiring such an announcement until the offer period expires in the following cases:
- When the open offer is for share acquisition due to disinvestment.
- When the open offer is a result of relaxation from strict compliance with regulatory provisions granted by the Board.
Competing offers must adhere to identical schedules and tendering periods, with the last date for accepting shares revised to match the last date for the most recent competing offer. Upon a public announcement of a competing offer, a previous acquirer making a competing offer may revise their offer terms, provided the revisions are more favorable to the target company’s shareholders. However, any upward revisions to the offer price must be made up to one working day before the tendering period begins. All other regulations apply to competing offers unless specified otherwise.