Wimco Ltd., is a public limited company incorporated in India. It is mainly engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of a broad range of safety matches. The shares of the company are listed on the stock exchanges at Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Kanpur and also on the National Stock Exchange.

Swedish Match AB (Appellant No. 1), a company incorporated in the Kingdom of Sweden, is the holding company of Swedish Match Singapore Pte. Ltd. (Appellant No. 2). The entire paid up capital of Swedish Match Singapore Pte. Ltd. is held by Swedish Match AB. It is a private limited company incorporated in Singapore. The said Swedish Match Singapore Pte. Ltd. in turn is the holding company of two other Singapore companies viz. Haravon Investments Pte. Ltd. (Haravon) and Seed Trading Pte. Ltd. (Seed). These companies viz. Swedish Match AB, Swedish Match Singapore Pte. Ltd. Haravon and Seed are described as Swedish Match Group (the Acquirers). The Acquirers held 52.11 per cent shares (i.e. 46.18 per cent by Haravon and 5.93 per cent by Seed) in Wimco Ltd. (the target company). Two companies viz. AVP Trading P. Ltd. (AVP) and Plash Foods P. Ltd. (Plash) are stated to be the Indian promoters o