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Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL’s) Board and its independent directors on Thursday slammed the Burman Family for sharing in the public domain what it described as “misleading information” regarding the Religare Finvest ESOP controversy.
The recent “misleading information” shared in the public domain by Burmans are not only far from the truth, but can best be described as false claims without evidence, REL Board and its independent directors said in a statement here.
Such misinformation impacts shareholder value and erodes confidence in Indian corporate ethic, and must be dealt with immediately with the highest level of urgency, the REL Board added.
Professionally-managed company
“We are a professionally-managed company, governed by the regulators of our country with the deepest of scrutiny. We must trust the regulators and the process and allow the company to operate to its full potential,” the REL Board said.
The Board and the management are committed to the highest levels of governance, ethics and integrity, the statement added.
The Burman Family had on Wednesday called for an investigation into the allotment of 2.14 crore stock options of Religare Finvest to its CMD Rashmi Saluja, noting that it constituted 8.17 per cent stake of the current equity capital. Religare Finvest is a material subsidiary of REL.
The investigation was called for as regards violation of SEBI Takeover Code in the wake of the special resolution getting passed at the AGM on September 26, a day after the Burman family announced an open offer for acquiring additional 26 per cent stake in REL.
Terming the “allotment” as “unfortunate,” the Burman Family, the largest shareholder of REL, in which it collectively owns 21.24 per cent through its entities, said the process “raises a question mark on the management and the independence of the independent directors” of the diversified financial services firm.
Inflection point
REL Board, however, on Wednesday refuted the allegation of SEBI Takeover Code violation, asserting that no new securities were issued to Saluja, but only an enabling resolution for shareholders’ approval was passed on September 26 at the RFL AGM.
Meanwhile, REL Board on Thursday said that Religare is at an inflection point due to the tireless efforts of the Board and the management over the last five years.
A historic revival and one-time settlement of RFL was completed through organic collections and payments of more than ₹9,000 crore made to the country’s banking system.
As a result of the overall growth of all businesses, the company’s market capitalisation has remarkably increased to about a billion dollars from a low of under $100 million in March 2018, REL Board said.
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