Russell Credit Limited, the wholly owned investment subsidiary of ITC Ltd., today acquired 3,84,82,281equity shares of Wimco Limited from its existing promoters - the Swedish Match Group. The shares were acquired from the three Singapore based subsidiaries (Swedish Match Singapore Pte, Haravon Invsestments Pte Limited and Seed Trading Pte Limited) of Swedish Match AB. The Board of Directors of Russell Credit met today to approve the acquisition. Russell Credit has also entered into an MoU with the Swedish Match Group for acquisition of a further 10,40,000 shares of Wimco Limited. The aggregate of the above shares constitute about 76% of the total paid-up equity capital of Wimco Limited. Pursuant to this acquisition, Russell Credit also announced its intention to delist Wimco from the stock exchanges and to make a delisting offer to acquire equity shares under the SEBI (Delisting of Securities) Guidelines 2003. The Board of Directors of Wimco Limited have convened an extraordinary general meeting of the company to consider the delisting proposal.

Swedish Match AB along with its subsidiaries have a pending open offer obligation. They have advised the stock exchanges about the implementation of their open offer. Russell Credit's proposed delisting offer for Wimco Limited is expected to open after the completion of Swedish Match's open offer.

Commenting on the transaction, Mr R Srinivasan, who is a member of ITC's Corporate Management Committee, said: "Wimco has been making losses for the last few years, with accumulated operating losses crossing Rs.60 crores. This acquisition will catalyse fresh investments in the company with attendant benefits to all stakeholders. ITC has been supporting competitiveness in the match sector through induction of technology and best practices."

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