Investors, the SEBI study shows, have gained a whopping Rs 3,400 crore from takeover deals, as open offers have offered them the much-needed opportunity to cash out during an open offer.

The open offers have been coming thick and fast since the introduction of the takeover regulations, 1997, clearing the cobwebs of the M&A policy. Further evidence of this is available from the fact that exemption applications for open offers have declined from 27 in 1997-98 to as low as seven in the current fiscal.

The rush for open offers is also evident from the fact that the current financial year has so far witnessed four offers a month, as compared with last year's figure of less than three offers per month. The SEBI study also reveals that22 per cent of the preferential allotments by companies are covered by the exemptions and, thus, do not require open offers.

Mergers and acquisitions began in real earnest in India during 1998-99 with the first signs of hostile intents amongst corporate raiders. The best example of such a move was the daring bid on Indian Aluminium, controlled by none other than giant Canadian multinational Alcan, by Indian major Sterlite Industries, and on Raasi Cement, the Hyderabad-based company, by Chennai-based India Cement.

The former did not succeed with Alcan shelling out nearly four times the book value of Indal to defend its stake.

But the second bid did succeed, and created southern IndiaÕs largest cement company by far.