June 13 :    June 13:  With the curtain ringing down on the open offers for VST Industries today, the venue of the battle between Bright Star Investments and Russell Credit for the control of the Hyderabad-based cigarette company has now shifted to Hyderabad. All eyes are now on Justice Gopal Reddy of Andhra Pradesh high court who will be giving his verdict on this bitter tussle on June 18. It is Justice Reddy who, last week, restrained both Bright Star and Russell Credit from proceeding further in acquiring VST shares after receiving a writ petition from M.V. Subramanyam and Anita Paul, two small investors, holding between themselves a measly 400 shares of VST. In a last ditch effort, representatives of ASK Raymond James, lead manager of Bright Star's offer, today rushed to the Andhra Pradesh high court to get the stay order vacated. The court, in fact, virtually turned into a corporate battlefield with legal luminaries of both the rival parties arguing vociferously. While adjourning the case to June 18, Justice Reddy gave an indication that if the verdict goes in favour of the Damani-owned Bright Star then their open offer will be revived and allowed to continue for three days starting from Monday. Reflecting the heat and dust that the VST drama has kicked up, the tobacco company's scrip sizzled on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today and closed at Rs 156.45, almost 7.61 per cent higher than the previous day's close of Rs 148.25 ASK Raymond's last-minute effort to get the stay order vacated was prompted by the fact that the financial institutions which were almost ready to bite the Bright Star offer started dithering. According to the information available with The Telegraph, FIs had informed ASK Raymond that the high court stay prevented them from accepting the generous terms offered by the Damanis. The institutions between themselves hold almost 18 per cent of the VST equity. Therefore, for any open offer to sail through the FI support was crucial. Bright Star already owns 16 per cent stake in VST and its hostile bid in February forced Russell Credit, the ITC subsidiary, to come out with a counter-offer. However, Bright Star had the last laugh in price war when it outwitted Russell at the last moment by winching up the offer price to an eye-popping Rs 151 per share. This was a cool Rs 26 more than Russell's re-revised price of Rs 125 per share. Bright Star further sweetened the offer by increasing its offer size to 30 per cent of VST's stake, while Russell's offer was for only 20 per cent. On the other hand, BAT Plc, which holds a little over 32.16 per cent in VST Industries, has opened up a new front in this tussle by seeking to raise its stake further in the Hyderabad-based cigarette company. The VST board is meeting tomorrow to take a decision in this regard. VST is the country's second largest cigarette company with a market share of around 12 per cent, well behind ITC Ltd which enjoys a share of around 65-70 per cent.