Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL) today said it has entered into a new share purchase agreement with four companies to sell 16.6 per cent stake in Indian Energy Exchange Ltd (IEX) for Rs 357.06 crore.
The earlier agreement that was signed on November 5, 2014 “stands terminated” and the new agreement will be closed within 60 days, subject to certain technology-related conditions and regulatory approvals, it said in a BSE filing.
FTIL is divesting its stake in IEX following the direction from the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission in May last year in the wake of the Rs 5,600-crore payment scam at FTIL’s group firm NSEL.
“We have entered into a new share purchase agreement with DCB Power ventures Ltd, Kiran Vyapar Ltd, Agri Power and Engineering Solutions Pvt Ltd, Aditya Birla Capital Advisors Pvt Ltd (for and on behalf of Aditya Birla Trustee Company Private Ltd, trustees to the Aditya Birla private Equity Fund I and Aditya Birla Pvt Equity Sunrise Fund for sale of 16.6 per cent stake for Rs 357.06 crore,” FTIL said in the filing.
The company and few purchasers would make efforts to sell the balance stake in IEX, which will be kept under escrow as per the terms of the new agreement, it added.
FTIL owns nearly 26 per cent stake in the energy bourse.
In November, FTIL had signed a pact to sell its entire stake in IEX to a clutch of investors, including TVS Shriram Growth Fund, for Rs 576.84 crore.
In the filing, FTIL said the earlier agreement stands terminated because of non-fulfilment of certain conditions and also due to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW)’s directive on February 28, 2015 restraining the sale of FTIL assets.
FTIL has signed the new agreement after the Bombay High Court in its order dated June 12, 2015 stayed the EOW’s letter on restraining the sale of FTIL assets. FTIL will have to deposit before the court Rs 84 crore from the sale of its stake in IEX within four weeks from the completion of the sale, the filing added.
The new pact has been signed “despite numerous challenges, including among others, to cancel the licence of IEX as stated in CERC order, EOW letter dated February 28, 2015 and in the interest of all stakeholders”, FTIL added.
IEX is the country’s leading power exchange with more than 95 per cent market share.