Religare Control Tussle: Minority Shareholder Mentions Appeal In Delhi High Court — Profit Exclusive

A Religare minority shareholder has mentioned an appeal against a single-judge order in the Delhi High Court, that had refused to stay the Rashmi Saluja-led company's Annual General Meeting and had termed a competing offer as infructuous.

Sapna Govind Rao, who holds 500 shares of the Co. had initially filed a petition supporting US-based businessman Danny Gaekwad's competing offer for Religare's majority stake.

The appeal was mentioned before a division bench on Monday afternoon. The court is likely to hear the case on Wednesday.

According to people familiar with the matter, Rao is an Indian citizen currently residing in Thailand. However, information about her life, occupation, and other details is not known to the public yet.

The Delhi High Court had previously mentioned that the offer made by US-based businessman Danny Gaekwad is infructuous, as his letter seeking permission from SEBI to do so has already been returned.

Rao's initial petition had also mentioned that the conditional approval given to the Burman family by the Reserve Bank of India was not in consonance with the acquisition and takeover regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India. She sought to stop the Dabur fame Burman family's acquisition of the company's stake.

Rao was represented by Senior Advocate CA Sundaram.

Gaekwad’s offer speaks of a 17% premium over the Rs 235-a-share offer made by the Burman family for a 26% stake in Religare. In addition to this, his offer is for a 55% stake in the company.

However, when Gaekwad’s offer surfaced, the Burman family had also released a media statement in its response. The statement mentioned that his offer was not a formal one, as he only sought permission from SEBI to be able to do so. The Burmans further mentioned that Gaekwad was already late in making the offer.