BENGALURU (Reuters) -An Indian company tribunal has dismissed objections raised by minority shareholders of ICICI Securities regarding its delisting plans, Bar and Bench reported on Wednesday.
ICICI Bank, which holds a roughly 75% stake in ICICI Securities, won shareholder approval to buy out the remaining stake in March in a share-swap deal worth $622 million, making the brokerage its whole-owned subsidiary and delisting it from the exchanges.
However, some shareholders including Quantum Mutual Fund and investor Manu Rishi Guptha filed petitions opposing the delisting with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
The applications argued that the delisting would affect minority shareholders, citing the undervaluation of ICICI Securities’ shares, according to the report.
NCLT and Quantum Mutual Fund did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comments.
Guptha said he would appeal the ruling, without providing details.
ICICI Securities said in an exchange filing that it is awaiting NCLT’s written order on the dismissal of the objections raised by the minority shareholders. It did not provide any additional details.
ICICI Securities argued that the petitioners lacked the shareholding required – either 10% of equity or 5% of outstanding debt – to press their case as per the provisions of the Companies Act, and sought the applications’ dismissal, the Bar and Bench report said.
Quantum and Guptha own 0.08% and 0.002% stake in ICICI Securities, respectively, according to a report.
Before the shareholder vote, ICICI Securities had received backlash from some unhappy retail investors, with local media reporting that ICICI Bank had attempted to sway votes in favour of the delisting.
ICICI Securities’ shares, which have risen about 11% since the shareholder nod, settled 7.3% lower on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
