Tata Tea and DSP Merrill Lynch are in discussions with the Sebi on certain issues relating to the draft letter of offer to shareholders and the 27 July announcement stands postponed till the manager to the offer in this regard publishes a further notice, the note said.

The entire timeline of the open offer has been delayed and the revised dated of the open offer would be communicated to the shareholders at an appropriate time, the note said.

The notice has been issued in compliance with the Sebi (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 1997 and subsequent amendments (the `SEBI (SAST) Regulations'').

Mount Everest Mineral Water (MEMW) had last month allotted nearly 51 lakh shares to Tata Tea on a preferential basis for over Rs71.39 crore.

In a communique to the Bombay Stock Exchange the company said its board of directors in a meeting on July 12, had approved the allotment of 50.99 lakh shares at Rs140 per share to Tata Tea.

On 1 June, Tata Tea had agreed to buy a 25.74-per cent stake in Mount Everest for Rs115 crore through subscription of preferential shares from the promoters of the company. Tata Tea had also agreed to acquire a further 20-per cent stake later.

As per the open offer, the Tata group firm would acquire up to 6.8 million equity shares at a price of Rs140 each, to be funded through internal accruals.

As per the agreement, Tata Tea would subscribe to MEMW''s 5.1 million equity shares, constituting 15 per cent of the paid-up capital, on a preferential basis. Besides, it would also acquire 3.1 million equity shares (10.77 per cent) held by Foresight Holdings Pvt Ltd promoter Vinod Sethi and MEMW managing director Salim Govani.