In an interesting development to the VST open offer stay case at the Andhra Pradesh High Court, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has opposed the extension of the offer period for accepting the shares.
Continuing the arguments, Sebi's counsel PVSS Rama Rao today said that there is no need to extend the offer period since the Bright Star, one of the offerers, continued to receive the shares on the premise that they have not received the copy of the court stay order. Interestingly, a contempt of court case has already been filed by the original petitioners on the same issue.
Sebi's counsel also felt that there is no need for investigation since there is no complaint filed against the offerers. He said that the question of suo moto investigation does not arise since there is no violation by Bright Star.
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The petitioner Balaji Varma's counsel strongly opposed the Sebi stand saying that it goes against the interests of the shareholders who were expecting the offer to be extended.
It may be recalled that the high court had earlier adjourned the case after taking the assurance from the Bright Star that it will extend the offer for five days after the court's final order, to compensate the time loss during the stay period. After hearing the arguments of Sebi and Bright Star, the court adjourned the case for Friday.