Now, a Religare director in Burmans’ crosshairs

livemint.com:

Religare Enterprises Ltd independent director Hamid Ahmed from attending the company’s board meetings related to its open offer unless he withdraws or justifies his recent comments on the matter. Ahmed violated sections of the regulator’s takeover code by speaking publicly against the open offer, the Burmans wrote to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Mint has seen a copy of the letter.

The Burman entities cited various statements made by Ahmed in an interview to The Economic Times on 29 November. These are: “Yes, board has rejected the open offer. The offer price is below the share price"; “The merits of the open offer are not very good.

They want to replace the board and the management"; and “The company has come out of heritage problems. At such a time, the offer looks a bit fishy". These statements make Ahmed “biased" and “not independent", the Burmans alleged in an 8 December letter, adding that they also violate Sebi’s Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers (SAST) Regulations, 2011.

Terming them “careless", the letter said these are “pejorative views being disseminated without any reasoning" and violate guidelines as they were not published to the stock exchanges. The Burmans’ open offer was initially welcomed by the Religare board, before it began pushing back. The Burmans have accused Religare chairperson Rashmi Saluja of insider trading and asked the regulator to investigate the issue of stock options to her.

Religare and Saluja have rejected all charges. It is unclear if Sebi sought clarifications from Religare or Ahmed. Religare, the Burmans and Sebi did not respond to requests for comment.