The capital markets regulator has placed the delisting of equity shares of Essar Oil, the oil and gas subsidiary of the Essar Group, on hold until further direction, the company informed the BSE on Thursday.

The company said the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued the order when it approached the exchange for in-principle approval for the delisting process. The company’s board of directors, in a meeting held on June 22, had approved the voluntary delisting proposal, recommended by Essar Energy Holdings, by purchasing over 13.71 crore shares held by public shareholders in Essar Oil, which constitutes 27.53 per cent of the company’s total equity.

Later the same month, the company fixed the share buy-back floor price at ₹108.18. In an August 6 filing with the BSE, the company said its shareholders had approved the voluntary delisting proposal. However, SEBI’s latest order is a temporary dampener in Essar Oil’s plans.

Last week, the market regulator made the rules for delisting stricter, mandating that a company wanting to delist has to make that at least 25 per cent of the public shareholders must tender their shares in the delisting. At the end of September, 71.95 per cent stake is being held by public shareholders while promoters control 24.9 per cent and institutions, including oversees, have an exposure of 3.15 per cent stake in the company. Over 3 lakh individual shareholders have invested in the company.

The stock hich has been falling steadily from its ₹120-125 range in August. On Thursday, it closed at ₹95.10, down 0.52 per cent, on the BSE.

comment COMMENT NOW