Mumbai, Jan 8 :    Mumbai, Jan 8:  The four-month-old takeover battle for Gesco Corporation ended today when the Mahindra-Sheth combine reached an amicable settlement with the feisty Abhishek Dalmia under which the promoters agreed to buy out Dalmia's 10.5 per cent stake in the real estate firm at Rs 54 per share on a spot delivery basis. Later, the Sheth-Mahindra consortium said the shares were being bought by Mahindra Realty and Infrastructure Developers Limited. As a consequence of the deal, the price payable to Gesco shareholders under the open offer to buy back shares automatically goes up to Rs 54 per share. The open offer closes on January 24. On the Bombay Stock exchange, the Gesco scrip closed today at Rs 43.80, down by a rupee from Friday's close of Rs 44.80. The deal was announced after market hours and the scrip is expected to climb when it opens for trading tomorrow. The stake of the Sheth-Mahindra consortium is now close to 30 per cent (Mahindra Realty holds 17 per cent and the Sheths 13 per cent). After the successful completion of the open offer, the consortium is expected to have close to 65 per cent of the paid-up equity of Gesco Corporation. 'We are pleased with the settlement as we have been able to acquire the shares at a price slightly lower than its current book value. Our efforts will now be to maximise shareholder value by building on the synergies of Gesco and Mahindra Realty,' said a spokesperson for the Mahindra outfit. Dalmia, who had acquired the stake over a period of six to eight months through a series of market deals that put the average price at between Rs 22 and Rs 25, was equally exultant. The pugnacious fighter, who saw a window of opportunity in the stock as far back as February, was today all praise for the Mahindras. 'We were getting into a phase of uncertainty which is not good for anyone and settlement was the best option. A price war would have led to irrational and an uneconomic acquisition, which I always wanted to avoid. I am glad that with this settlement, the period of uncertainty is over,' Dalmia said. Ghanshyam Sheth, managing director of Gesco Corporation, said, 'I am delighted that the whole episode is behind us. This has been possible by the apt handling of the whole issue by Mahindra Realty and the good counsel of Kotak Mahindra'. 'Both the parties want to thank S. Gurumurthy for taking the initiative to bring about this settlement which is in the interest of both the parties,' the statement said. For Dalmias, it was a good start after exiting their family venture. The other gainers were the institutional investors and small shareholders of Gesco Corp. In the battle for takeover, both parties had raised their offer prices a couple of times. While the Sheths got Mahindras and HDFC to counter Dalmia's hostile bid, Dalmia's Renaissance Estates said it had created a cash chest out of borrowed funds to part-finance the Rs 58 crore takeover bid for the Mumbai-based realty firm. The Delhi-based A H Dalmia group had mounted a takeover bid for Gesco through the open offer route and announced a hike in its offer price recently to Rs 45 per share for 45 per cent of all outstanding shares.