McDowell & Co Ltd and Phipson Ltd, both part of Vijay Mallya's UB group, and associates have made a counter offer to the shareholders of Herbertsons Ltd to acquire additional 45.2 per cent stake at Rs 200 per share, Rs 109.50 more than the original open offer made by Kishore R Chhabria, Madanlal D Chhabria and others for extra 20 per cent stake.

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The offer by UB group for 43,00,000 shares of Herbertsons, payable in cash, would open on November 3 and close on December, 2003, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, manager to the offer, said in a statement in Mumbai on Wednesday.

McDowell, Phipson and associates, including United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd, hold 28.55 per cent of the paid-up capital of Herbertsons, KMCC said.

The total outgo for the counter offer is pegged at Rs 86 crore (Rs 860 million) and this offer is not subject to any minimum number of acceptances, it said.

The last date for making a competitive bid is September 11, while that for revising offer price and number of shares is November 20, 2003, KMCC said.

Following the Securities Appellate Tribunal directive, Chhabrias and associates made an offer for Herbertsons Ltd to acquire additional 19,09,465 shares at Rs 90.50 per share plus interest.

Chabbrias' offer is slated to open on October 3 and close on November 1, 2003. Personally, Chhabrias do not hold any stake in the company while its associates, including Veneer Investment & Finance Ltd and Algid Investment & Finance Ltd hold 49.07 per cent of the paid-up capital.

The Supreme Court had on September 8 issued notice to the Securities and Exchange Board of India on a petition filed by United Breweries challenging a SAT order asking Chhabrias to make an offer to Herbertsons with October 27, 1994 as a reference date to calculate the offer price.

A bench comprising Chief Justice V N Khare and Justice S B Sinha issued the notice on three questions including the maintainability of the UB petition and posted the matter for further hearing on September 15.

The court also asked Sebi as to what would happen if it was found that the acquisition of 19.1 per cent of the shares in Herbertsons Ltd by Chhabrias were void and whether there could be ex post facto offers.