Securities Appellate Tribunal allows PNB Housing Finance to withdraw its plea against SEBI

NEW DELHI:  The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has allowed PNB Housing Finance to withdraw its petition against Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The Tribunal in an order passed on 16 November, allowed the housing finance company to withdraw the petition, PNB Housing Finance informed the exchanges.

PNB Housing Finance had moved the appellate tribunal after Sebi had asked it to halt a preferential allotment of shares and warrants to entities including Pluto investments, an affiliate of the Carlyle Group, General Atlantic, Salisbury Investments Private Ltd. and Alpha Investments to raise Rs 4,000 crore.

The SEBI stayed the deal after proxy advisory firm SES had raised concerns over the proposed deal and said it was not in favour of the minority shareholders as well as the promoter Punjab National Bank. PNB Housing had challenged the Sebi order at the SAT, which had passed a split verdict, after which SEBI had filed an appeal against the SAT verdict at the Supreme Court.

However, after questions were raised over the fairness of the deal, the board of PNB Housing Finance on Oct 14 decided to terminate the fund raising deal with the Carlyle-led group of investors citing pending legal issues which may delay regulatory approvals.