Consumer goods conglomerate, Unilever Plc, has tendered an offer to pay as much as US$5.4 billion to increase its shareholdings in its India unit. The move is expected to ride the ever increasing spending power of the third largest economy in Asia. 

The offer is to increase its shareholdings to nearly 75% in Hindustan Unilever Ltd, the largest consumer goods maker in India. It is the latest corporate move to invest in the long-term consumer demand in India despite low economic growth. This is also a sign that Unilever is moving from developed countries for revenues into fast growing developing world markets.

According to Unilever's CEO Paul Polman in a statement, "This represents a further step in Unilever's strategy to invest in emerging markets and offers a liquidity opportunity at what we believe to be an attractive premium for existing shareholders."

The additional stake to be bought would 22.52% of Hindustan Unilever, since the Dutch conglomerate already owns half of the shares in the company. The bid was set at 600 rupees per share, which has a 20.6 premium from Monday's close. This caused the shares of Hindustan Unilever to jump as much as 20% from opening share value to its record high in Tuesday's trading.