JHS Svendgaard Laboratories' promoter settles case with Sebi

New Delhi: JHS Svendgaard Laboratories' promoter Nikhil Nanda on Wednesday settled with capital markets regulator Sebi a case of alleged violation of takeover norms by paying an amount of Rs 37.42 lakh towards settlement fee.

In a settlement order, Sebi said, "the defaults...are settled qua the applicant (Nanda)".

It was alleged that Nanda had acquired shares of JHS Svendgaard without complying with regulatory norms.

As per the order, Nanda informed that in the EGM held in September 2015, a special resolution was passed to issue 3.59 crore fully convertible warrants on a preferential basis.

Following this, the board of directors in January, 2016 resolved to allot 1.5 crore fully convertible warrants at an issue price of Rs 11 each convertible into equivalent number of equity shares of the company to Nanda.

The conversion of the warrants into equity shares was intended to happen over the course of three financial years, the order noted.

A total of 58.5 lakh warrants were supposed to be converted during the financial year 2016-17. However, only 8.5 lakh shares were converted in the financial year as the conversion did not happen as intended due to an inadvertent error, it added.

The conversion thus resulted in allegation that Nanda acquired shares of JHS Svendgaard Laboratories without complying with SAST (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations.

Subsequently, Nanda had filed an application with Sebi and proposed to settle the case under the settlement terms for the alleged default.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) considered the proposed settlement terms by the applicant, and recommended the case for settlement upon payment of Rs 37.42 lakh.

Accordingly, he made the payment and settled the case with the regulator.