Shriram Group, IDFC to still explore possibility of working together: Thyagarajan

Mumbai, Oct 31 : A day after the Shriram Group and IDFC Ltd agreed to call off discussions on a potential merger, Shriram Group Chairman R. Thyagarajan on Tuesday said both parties would continue to explore the possibility of working together and may work out a deal in the future.

"We were discussing with IDFC to create an idea which would, if implemented, result in a significant value creation for the shareholders of the Shriram group as well as the IDFC group. We were not able to come to the conclusion about the deal of that kind within the time frame which was set by ourselves earlier," Thyagarajan told BTVi in an interview.

He also said now the time frame is indefinite. 

"We are not able to work out a deal within a time frame... what is now happening is that the exclusivity period is over. So we are not saying that the exclusivity period means that we do not talk to anybody else in the meantime...it does not mean that we will not talk to each other and we will not work out a deal in future. If it happens and it will be good for everybody," he said.

According to him, both parties continue to explore the possibility of again working together.

He also said differences in valuation were not the only issue as the possible merger falling through.

"There were three or four critical issues... on each one of them there has to be agreement between the two parties," he added.