The market regulator SEBI has moved the Supreme Court to appeal against the order of the Securities Appellate Tribunal allowing Pune-based pharma company Fresenius Kabi Oncology to delist without conditions. The matter is expected to come up for hearing in January.
Decision on trading Meanwhile, the company has decided to suspend trading in its shares with effect from January 3 on account of voluntary delisting under SEBI’s delisting regulations, according to a filing with the NSE.
The latest SEBI move follows a series of twists in the case since the company launched its offer-for-sale (OFS) to divest 9 per cent promoter shareholding in October last year to meet SEBI’s minimum public shareholding norm.
Thereafter, the company approached SEBI for permission to delist its shares from the bourses.
Pre-offer holding However, the regulator had asked the company to take its pre-offer shareholding into consideration for delisting from the stock exchanges. This condition was imposed by SEBI to rule out any collusive transactions to manipulate the pricing in the delisting.
SEBI cited investor complaints alleging that entities who had purchased shares in the OFS might have participated in the OFS with an intent to subsequently tender their shares at an artificial price in the bids for the delisting offer.
Fresenius Kabi had then approached SAT, which in its September order, had set aside SEBI’s order against the company and allowed it to delist its shares without any conditions on the grounds that there was no proof to establish any collusion.
Though the tribunal allowed SEBI to go ahead with its probe into investor complaints regarding the company’s OFS, it allowed the company to delist without any conditions
“If delisting is in the ordinary course of business, then there is no reason for imposing conditions,” SAT had said in its order.
The shares of Fresenius Kabi closed flat at Rs 132 on Tuesday on the BSE.