R.P.Goenka used to say he always indulged in “friendly” takeover bids, except one.
“Premier Automobiles Ltd, RPG would say, was the sole exception, where he adopted a ‘hostile’ strategy”, recalls his confidante of three decades Mani Shankar Mukherjee.
“But at the request of Indira Gandhi, he finally desisted from acquiring PAL,” Mukherjee told
RPG cared more for “verbal promise” than a “written agreement”. This was why he did not insist on executing the signed agreement for Bombay Dyeing. “He kept his verbal promise with Neville Wadia,” Mukherjee said.
According to C. K. Dhanuka, Executive Chairman of Dhunseri Petrochem & Tea Ltd, RPG had a shrewd predatory instinct and was a keen stock market watcher.
“He would identify his target, corner it patiently and move in the market quietly but swiftly to make the killing,” Dhanuka observed.
In the case of listed companies with large floating stock, he would study the company for some time and then start moving in. RPG would invariably “charm” the non-promoter shareholders into selling their holdings to him. “He would offer them more than the ruling price, but obviously lower than its real intrinsic value that he had already arrived at. This was his unique quality.
The other acumen was of taking a decision fast when needed,” said Dhanuka, who closely watched RPG make certain investment deals.
L.K. Mohta, whose family broking business was close to the Goenka family, said in the CESC acquisition, RPG preferred to go in for a slow market mop-up for around three years; occasionally in bits and pieces.