The Hindu Business Line : SEBI disposes complaint against Sterlite in Indal deal

THE Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has passed an order disposing of the complaint lodged by Mr Sanjay Soni and Mr Sumeet Soni. The order held that there has been no violation of SEBI's original order dated October 28, 1998 and hence no further proceedings are warranted in the case of payment made by Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd to the shareholders of Indian Aluminium Co Ltd (Indal), said a SEBI press release.

Earlier, SEBI had directed Sterlite Industries to make a payment of Rs 221 a share in cash along with the interest of 15 per cent from July 2, 1998. This is the date by which payment ought to have been made to the shareholders of Indal who had tendered the shares in the open offer made by Sterlite in 1998 under SEBI's takeover regulation.

Following SEBI's order, Sterlite had appealed to the Appellate Authority in the Government of India, which upheld SEBI order. On further appeal to the High Court of Delhi, SEBI's order was upheld subject to certain modification.

Sterlite made the final payment to the eligible shareholders of Indal in terms of SEBI's order and subsequent directions by the courts in September 2002. However, while making the said payment, dividends declared of Rs19.50 per share by Indal on or after July 2, 1998 were deducted.

Mr Sanjay Soni and Mr Sumeet Soni approached SEBI to direct Sterlite to pay all the shareholders of Indal the sum of Rs 19.50 per share with interest from September 26, 2002 till the date of payment.

SEBI considered that while making the payment Sterlite deducted the amount of dividend already paid by Indal on the shares held by the shareholders, since the shares had continued to remain in the name of the shareholders and could not be transferred to the acquirers for the interim period due to protracted litigation.

Sterlite paid interest to eligible Indal shareholders for the period thereby complying with SEBI's direction and the High Court's order, said a SEBI release.

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