Mint Explainer: Is Dr. Saluja's battle against the Burmans worth fighting?
₹160.20 (on 21 July) and a high of Rs. 270 (on 18 September). Going by Dr.
Saluja's own submissions, she was ready with a share-sale plan and happily sold her shares within this price range, just two days before the open-offer announcement. But when it came to the hostile takeover announcement on 25 September, Dr. Saluja and the board argued that any offer price below Rs.
275 was not fair. Despite everything, if Sebi accepts Dr. Saluja's argument for a higher valuation, the Burmans may only postpone the takeover and come up with a better offer when the share price goes up.
But, at this juncture, Dr. Saluja's "planned" share sale defies her board's fair-price argument. In fact, the latest share-sale revelation may completely upend her board's efforts to prevent the takeover.
This, in turn, could cause her to lose her job at Religare. The second possible outcome could be even more dangerous for Dr. Saluja.
In a 26 October letter to the Religare board, the Burmans claimed that to their surprise, Dr. Saluja sold the shares immediately after getting insider information from Lamba, just prior to the open offer announcement. If this allegation is true, and Dr.
Saluja’s share sale wasn’t pre-planned, she could be found guilty of violation of Sebi's rules against insider-trading. The exchange data shows Dr Saluja and a few other employees sold Religare shares worth over Rs. 34 crore on 21 September and 22 September.
Sebi's rules on preventing insider trading say violations could result in a penalty of Rs. 25 crore or three times the illegitimate gains made from trades, whichever is higher. In the interest of preserving market integrity, Sebi may opt for the harsher penalty, given the Dr Saluja’s influence in the corporate world,
. Read more on livemint.com
