The Securities Appellate Tribunal has reserved its order in a case related to Gillette India on the issue of complying with the market regulator’s minimum shareholding norms.

The male grooming products maker had early this year appealed to the tribunal against the Securities and Exchange Board of India for rejecting its proposal to comply with the latter’s minimum public shareholding requirement.

According to a SEBI guideline, the listed companies are required to have a minimum public shareholding of 25 per cent and the deadline for complying with the same was June 3. While hearing the appeal, the quasi-judicial body directed the market regulator to look into specific instances of companies, in which the promoter entities were simply “reclassified” as public shareholders in order to comply with the minimum public shareholding norms.

‘Think of solution’

SAT’s direction came in after Gillette’s lawyer Somasekhar Sundareshan highlighted that a few companies, while making stock exchange disclosures, just removed certain entities from the promoter group to public category. Gokaldas Exports, Capital First and Balmer Lawrie are among the few companies that have done so. SAT’s Presiding Officer Jog Singh, said regulator should not “contemplate action but think of a solution”

Gillette India, had earlier in its proposal to SEBI, had mentioned that in a bid to bring down the promoter holding to 75 per cent, the Indian promoters (S. K. Poddar group) would transfer 4 per cent stake to the foreign parent P&G and then the latter will sell 4.9 per cent through the offer-for-sale route.

Currently, the promoters hold 88.76 per cent in Gillette India.

However, SEBI had rejected its proposal.

On Wednesday, the shares of Gillette closed 2.7 per cent lower at Rs 2,254.80 on the BSE.

priyanka.pani@thehindu.co.in

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