Russell Credit Limited, a subsidiary of ITC Ltd., acquired a 76% stake in Wimco Limited from Swedish Match Group, aiming to revitalize the struggling company and potentially delist it from the stock exchanges.

Target Information

Russell Credit Limited, a fully-owned investment subsidiary of ITC Ltd., has successfully acquired 38,482,281 equity shares of Wimco Limited from its current promoters, the Swedish Match Group. The shares were procured from three Singapore-based subsidiaries of Swedish Match AB, namely Swedish Match Singapore Pte, Haravon Investments Pte Limited, and Seed Trading Pte Limited. The completion of this acquisition was sanctioned by the Board of Directors of Russell Credit. In addition, Russell Credit has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Swedish Match Group to acquire an additional 1,040,000 shares of Wimco Limited. The collective shares acquired represent approximately 76% of the total paid-up equity capital of Wimco Limited.

Following this acquisition, Russell Credit announced its intention to delist Wimco from the stock exchanges, intending to launch a delisting offer for equity shares in accordance with the SEBI (Delisting of Securities) Guidelines 2003. To facilitate this process, the Board of Directors of Wimco Limited has convened an extraordinary general meeting to discuss the delisting proposal.

Industry Overview in Target's Country

Wimco Limited operates in the match-making industry, which has witnessed significant challenges in recent years, particularly due to shifts in consumer preferences and increasing competition. The sector has been cha