An acquirer holds 30% of a listed company's shares (having already crossed the 25% trigger and completed the open offer). In one financial year it acquires a further shaft of shares through the market without any further open offer. The maximum it may acquire through such CREEPING ACQUISITION in a financial year without triggering a fresh open-offer/disclosure threshold (subject to the conditions) is:

Under Regulation 3 read with the creeping-acquisition dispensation in SEBI (SAST), an acquirer (or a person acting in concert with it) who holds between 25% and 75% may acquire further shares WITHOUT a fresh open-offer, through the 'CREEPING ACQUISITION' route, up to a maximum of FIVE PER CENT of the voting rights in a financial year, subject to the disclosures and the conditions the Regulations prescribe. Acquisitions beyond that annual 5% creep require a fresh open offer. The 5% annual creeping ceiling distinguishes routine stake-building from a triggering acquisition. This is a distinctive SAST numeric.