After buying 25 lakh Digjam shares (3.6 per cent) on March 10, promoters SK Birla group on Monday ramped up their stake in the firm by buying shares offloaded by Asset Reconstruction Corporation of India (Arcil).

On Monday, Arcil offloaded 17 lakh shares on the BSE at a price of Rs 11.07 apiece in a bulk deal.

Around 4 lakh shares were picked up by Birla Holdings (part of the promoter group) while an unknown entity called Payal Commercial Company bought 14 lakh shares. The earlier tranche of 25 lakh shares translated to a holding of 3.63 per cent of the company. Promoter entities of Digjam held 26.81 per cent stake in the company at the end of December 2009 If Payal Commercial is also a part of the promoter group or a company acting in concert with the promoters, with these 17 lakh shares, the promoters have bought back additional 6 per cent stake (42 lakh shares) in the company in just two weeks. If Payal Commercial is a part of the promoter group, the latest development could trigger an open offer.

At the end of December 2009, Digjam had a total of 6.87 crore shares distributed among promoters, financial institutions and others.

Under Sebi's creeping acquisition norms, promoters of any listed company can increase their holdings by up to 5 per cent through market purchase in each financial year. If they cross the 5 per cent threshold, this will trigger an open offer. Calls made to SK Birla failed to elicit any response on the identity of Payal Commercial Company. Attempts to get in touch with (after working hours) to CL Rathi, a senior executive of Digjam, also proved futile.

On March 10, promoter entities such as Central India General Agents, Sukriti Education Society and Birla Holdings picked up 25 lakh shares from Arcil.

On March 7, Financial Chronicle had reported that Arcil, which had got Digjam shares post restructuring of Birla VXL, offloaded its shares on March 4 as well as March 5 and brought its stake down from 27 per cent to below 20 per cent.