The regulators don't seem to have been swayed, so far. Covering all their bets, on Nov. 7, Gesco's Sheth family countered Renaissance Estates' move. The deal would give Mahindra control but let Ghanshyam Sheth keep running the company. The Tata group has been buying back shares in its 43 quoted companies. Shareholders will make money in a hostile takeover,'' says Mahesh Keswani, a private investor from Bombay who has held a block of Great Eastern Shipping shares for 20 years.
Some skeptics doubt it.
And even if India's blue-blooded industrialists wanted to sell, they probably wouldn't out of snobbery, says Kayu Mehta, head of private equity at Bank of America in India. Dupont may have been more welcome,'' he says. For the moment that's not an option, since foreign companies still can't make takeover bids in India. For all that, the taboo against challenging the industrial rajahs is shattered. The next test will come when regulators rule on the validity of the bids for Gesco and Bombay Dyeing.