"The Devonshire Capital Group has entered into a share purchase agreement with BCCL to acquire a 74.92 per cent of the paid-up equity capital of Times Guaranty Ltd. Consequent to this agreement, Devonshire has announced its intention to make an offer to acquire a further 20 per cent of the paid-up equity capital from the remaining shareholders at an offer price of Rs 7 per share payable in cash."

The Times Guaranty scrip now quotes between Rs 6 and Rs 9 on the bourses.Devonshire Capital Group is a privately-owned investment and merchant banker which has an integrated network of offices located in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok and representatives and affiliates throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

The group is involved in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, direct investments, corporate finance, funds management and advisory services. It claimed, "It recently played a major role in the success of Thailand's Bank of Ayuthya's private placement of equity amounting to $540 million. Over 48 per cent of the issue was placed with investors outside Thailand within 17 days of commencement."