No Stay On Religare Enterprises’ Rs 500-Crore Investment In Religare Capital

The National Company Law Tribunal on Friday declined to grant a stay on a Religare Enterprises Ltd. board resolution to invest Rs 500 crore in unit Religare Capital to enable the repayment of an Axis Bank loan.

Mauritius-based institutional investor India Horizon Fund Ltd., which owns 5.59 percent stake in Religare Enterprises, had moved the Delhi bench of NCLT, seeking both a stay on the investment and a dissolution of the Religare Enterprises board on grounds of mismanagement and oppression of minority shareholder.

The tribunal, while declining the interim relief prayer of India Horizon Fund, issued a notice to Religare Enterprises to respond at the next hearing on November 8.

During the hearing, the NCLT questioned India Horizon Fund on how it could be considered a minority shareholder in this matter. According to the Section 241 of the Companies Act, 2013, shareholding of the petitioner must be at least 10 percent for the plea to be maintainable.

To this, the fund said that with the backing of IDBI trusteeship, the total shareholding of India Horizon Fund in the company is around 19 percent.

Religare Enterprises’ counsel Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that IDBI trusteeship is already a party in a similar case in Bombay High Court and accused them of ‘forum shopping’.

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