With L&T-Mindtree saga playing out, here's a look at white knights of India Inc

In this article, we revisit some of those tales of India Inc.

The controversy surrounding L&T's bid to acquire Mindtree has put the spotlight on the topic of hostile takeovers.

In some instances, an entity/businessman stepped in as a white knight and saved the target company from a hostile takeover.

Here we revisit some of those tales of India Inc.

-In 2010, Reliance Industries turned white knight for Prithvi Raj Singh Oberoi's EIH Ltd as Mukesh Ambani helped the company fight off a potential takeover bid by consumer goods company ITC. Ambani had picked up a 14.12 percent stake in the hotel business.

ITC had amassed close to 14.98 percent stake in the company over the years. However, it had said it would never make a hostile bid to take control of EIH. The transaction with RIL gave Oberoi enough funds to shore up a defense.

-In 2000, promoters of real estate company Gesco Corporation were facing a hostile bid by Delhi-based Abhishek Dalmia's Renaissance Estates. It bought a 10 percent stake in Gesco with a low share price and launched an open offer for an additional 45 percent.

The promoters approached Mahindra Realty & Infrastructure, who made a counter-offer for 33.5 percent of Gesco. Dalmia ultimately sold its 10.5 percent stake to the new combine of Gesco-Mahindra at a huge profit.

-In 2001, Radhakishan Damani made a hostile bid for British American Tobacco (BAT)'s VST Industries. Damani had acquired below 15 percent stake in the company. He now wanted another 20 percent stake in the company at Rs 112 per share, which was a 26 percent premium to the market price. However, cigarette company ITC stepped in as the white knight and gave a counter-offer of Rs 115 per share that went up to Rs 126 per share later.

-Pharmaceutical company Solrex had tried to make a hostile bid for K Raghavendra Rao's Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals. It had acquired 12 percent in the company. However, Rao resisted the bid and got the support from the company's large institutional investors, which collectively held 38 percent in the company. These included Life Insurance Corporation and United Insurance Company, Macquarie Bank and Hartline.

-In 2000, Kolkata-based Arun Bajoria bought a 15 percent stake in Wadia Group's Bombay Dyeing. He threatened to make an open offer to the shareholders of the company. The Wadias turned to Ratan Tata and Keshub Mahindra to help prevent a takeover. Bajoria finally sold his shares to the Wadias for a huge profit.

-In 2007, Harish Bhasin's investment firm HB Stockholding announced an open offer to acquire 22.8 percent of DCM Shriram Industries. The firm already held a 12.87 percent stake in the company. However, promoters countered the move by issuing warrants to themselves and increased their stake.

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