Finance Forum India

For a shareholder to initiate a direct action, rather than indirectly on behalf of the company, it needs to be supported by at least 100 shareholders or such number of shareholders holding 10% of the company. Instances of shareholder activism in India have been few and far between. Now, an activist London-based hedge fund has gone for the jugular, charging the board of a public sector company of a breach of fiduciary duties, by not acting independently of the Indian government on several matters including pricing. The Children’s Investment Fund Management (UK) LLP (TCI) has written to the board members of...

Let’s say you are one of India’s biggest business promoters. You know your company is planning to make an additional offering of shares a few weeks down the line, but the market is tepid. In order to get a good price, you ask a group company to start bidding up your shares in the market so that the IPO will fetch a better price. Which rogue promoter is that? But this is exactly what the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has done before the government’s offer for sale of ONGC shares (a.k.a. auction) which ended in a controversy last week. According to...

A report from investment bank Veritas Investment Research on DLF saw the stock tanking 5.17% in trade yesterday. The report alleges that the debt-laden property developer has been cooking its books for the last four years with large amounts of financial misreporting. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Neeraj Monga, the author of the report hammers DLF saying he doesn't buy the realtor's accounts. In his report titled 'A Crumbling Edifice', he raises doubts about the company's disclosed book equity and asset base. You may read: Veritas aims gun at DLF; says co may have to recast loans The Veritas report alleges DLF inflated sales...

Institutional Investor Advisory Services' (IIAS) advice to shareholders of Hindalco to vote against its preferential issue of warrants has sparked off a debate about the viability of preferential allotments. According to Amit Tandon, managing director of IIAS, shareholders should vote against preferential issue of warrants by any company because it is an instrument which is abused by promoters. "We have looked at about 20-25 companies and we find that whenever the warrant conversion price is higher than the market price of the share, the warrants don't get converted and vice-versa," he said. Therefore, he recommends a rights issue over any preferential allotment. Tandon...

KOLKATA, FEB. 8:      Shareholders of Akzo Nobel India Ltd have approved a proposal for merger of three unlisted group entities with it, the company said on Wednesday. However, 23.15 per cent of the valid votes of 28.99 million, polled on Tuesday at a court-convened shareholder meeting here, were against the resolution. A large chunk of minority shareholders opposed the move on the premise that the proposed merger did not protect their interest. Mr Shriram Subramanian, MD of Bangalore-based InGovern Research Services, a proxy advisory firm assisting institutional investors, told Business Line that as a consequence of the amalgamation, promoters will increase...

MUMBAI: The capital market regulator is inquiring if technology outsourcer Patni Computer Systems can delist without lowering promoter stake to 75% as mandated by law.The move follows complaints by some shareholders in Patni alleging that US-based software maker iGate has violated norms by announcing delisting of the Indian company without first paring its stake from 83% to 75%."The regulator is looking into it after some shareholders complained," said a person familiar with the matter.In a public announcement on January 11, 2011, iGate had said it will delist Patni shares, after completion of the open offer, under the Sebi (Delisting of Equity Shares) Regulations 2009. But Sebi objected to...

MUMBAI: A battle is brewing between promoters of Raipur-based Vaswani Industries and its public shareholders. A bunch of Vaswani's shareholders, owning around 11% stake in the company, have called for an extraordinary general meeting on January 23 to remove the founders from its board. Promoters own roughly 52% in the company. The shareholders include MGF Growth Research & Investment, Decent Financial Services, Meenaben Shah, Padmaben Shah and Rajendra Jain, who have sought the removal of Ravi Vaswani, the managing director and the founder of the company, and appointment of their representative Jayshree Gangurde in his place. They will also demand the replacement of Pramod Vaswani, whole-time director...

MUMBAI: A group of minority shareholders of AkzoNobel, including Asian Paints, have objected to a proposal under which the listed firm will absorb three unlisted group companies at a higher valuation, thereby increasing foreign promoter's share holding. In a concerted move, the institutional investors such as ICICI Prudential, LIC, SBI Mutual Fund, Bajaj Allianz, among others, have informed AkzoNobel, (formerly ICI) about their discomfort over the valuation given to the three companies controlled by Akzo's foreign parent, though the listed firm has a market cap of over 2,000 crore and cash in hand of about 1,000 crore. Asian Paints, whose founders fought...

MUMBAI: A penny stock that gained 132 times in less than 18 months is back in news, but for the wrong reasons. The sharp rise and the subsequent fall in the share price of dairy and food processing company Kwality Dairy India (KDIL) has raised eyebrows, with market participants suspecting foul play in the counter. Even though there were no corporate announcements that could have adversely impacted the stock, the share price fell almost continuously, after touching a high of Rs 189 in October. From around Rs 1.50 (after adjustments to corporate actions) in October 2008, the stock rose to over Rs...

Mr. Ramdeo Agarwal is the Managing Director of Motilal Oswal Financial Services. He is a reputed stock picker and is one of the most successful Indian entrepreneurs in the financial services industry.