Investors have started targeting small companies in a big way.

The move, according to market players, could be either to unlock values or a trick to merge unlisted firms with listed entities.

At least five open offers were announced over the last fortnight. In some cases, trading was extremely thin with a few shares being traded.

On July 16, Inga Management and Investment Pvt Ltd announced that it has acquired 40,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each, representing 16.33 per cent of the paid-up equity share capital of Ishwar Textiles Ltd, under an agreement dated July 7.

A few days before, on July 12, Prakash Maheshwari & Sameer Maheshwari announced an open offer to the public shareholders of Noble Explochem Ltd to acquire 29,45,700 equity shares of Rs 10 each.

On the same day, Saleem Fazelbhoy & Amzel Pvt Ltd in compliance with Sebi regulations announced an offer to the fully paid-up equity shareholders of Amzel Automotive.

As on date of this public announcement, the acquirers held 5,16,009 fully paid-up equity shares of AAL representing 86 per cent of its total capital and voting capital of AAL.

On July 8, Chhattisgarh Electricity Company and Chhattisgarh Investments Ltd along with Sarda Agriculture & Properties Pvt Ltd and Prachi Agriculture & Properties Pvt and Kamal Kishore Sarda made an open offer to the shareholders of Raipur Alloys & Steels Ltd to acquire up to 26,16,000 fully paid-up equity shares of Rs 10 each.

Kishore P Ostwal, managing director, Neil Information Technology, said, "With stringent listing process by stock exchanges, it is next to impossible for promoters of small-sized companies to get listed on the stock exchanges with 40 per cent free float."

Neil Information had sometime back acquired the Bombay Stock Exchange-listed Avon Properties.

A CMIE official said the number of open offers for little-known companies are increasing by the day even though in value terms they are not significant.

A section of the market believes that is there a lot of value unlocking in these small companies.

"Individuals look at small companies as a good investment opportunity as these outfits have started giving good return on investments," said Hanu Bhatia, senior vice-president- equities, Parag Parikh Securities Financial Advisory Services.

Jignesh Shah, strategist, ASK Raymond James , adds, "A lot of small companies are witnessing mergers and acquisitions as promoters are looking to safeguard their own interests in some cases."