INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
New Delhi: Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power has asked the Sebi to immediately ban Edelweiss Group from the capital market, alleging "illegal
and market disruptive activities" to cause a steep plunge in the company's share price.
Reliance Group, last week, accused LT Finance and
Edelweiss Group entities of "illegal" and "motivated" actions in invoking the pledged shares of Anil Ambani group's three listed firms and
selling them in open market causing a steep fall in share values.
LT Finance and Edelweiss Group have refuted the allegations and have
counter-alleged that Reliance Group failed to make timely payments, which they said necessitated sale of pledged shares.
Reliance Power, in
a fresh letter to the Sebi dated February 11, also asked the markets regulator to declare all Edelweiss Group entities as not being "fit and
proper" and impose a ban on each of them from the capital markets and related activities.
It also asked the regulator to investigate the
sale of Reliance Power shares by Edelweiss Group on February 4-5.
When contacted, a Reliance Group spokesperson referred to an earlier
statement in which boards of three listed companies of the group -- Reliance Power, Reliance Infra and Reliance Capital -- had approved and
recommended "all appropriate legal steps" to protect shareholders' value.
"We will take all legal steps necessary to protect and enhance the
value of our stakeholders, including pursuing the matter with an appropriate regulator," the spokesperson added.
There was no response to a
query sent to Edelweiss Group
Last week, Edelweiss said it had granted credit facilities against pledge of shares to Reliance Group and it reached out numerous times to
the group to address concerns on shortfall in margins and resultant fall in collateral valuation.
It said liquidation of collateral was
necessitated after Reliance Group continued to breach contractual obligations, and did not reply to an offer for remediation.
The letter
alleged that Edelweiss Group usurped powers vested in debenture trustee over pledged shares and violated legal, contractual and fiduciary
obligation to realise fair value for pledged shares.
"The Edelweiss Group arbitrarily bypassed and flouted all documents processes for
invoking of the pledge and enforcement of the security by the debenture trustee and instead illegally and in a pre-mediated manner
themselves started dumping huge opportunities of Reliance Power shares and futures in the open market commencing from 9.57 am on February 4
and through the end of business hours on February 5," it added.
This illegal actions of Edelweiss Group brought down the share price of the
company by 57 per cent in just two days.
Reliance Capital alleged that Edelweiss Group entities were indulged in illegal and market
disruptive activities and violated the Sebi's PFTUP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) norms.
The company's
promoters are also seeking "restoration of status quo ante and punitive damages from Edelweiss Group".
Earlier, the company had written a
letter to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on February 6 requesting it to investigate the matter and impose restrain on
entities that pressed huge sale orders significantly below the prevailing market price and in-depth investigate the matter.
Similar
complaints are expected to be filed by Reliance Capital and Reliance Infrastructure as well, sources said.
Meanwhile, the Sebi is looking
into allegations and counter-allegations related to the sale of pledged shares of Reliance Group's three listed firms by two lenders, as
