Everonn's 'tainted' founder says he's resumed office

In the wake of getting bail after his arrest on charges of bribing an income tax officer, Everonn Education Ltd's promoter, P Kishore, on Monday said he’d resumed his office.

He was arrested on August 30 by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which alleged Kishore had tried to give a bribe to conceal Rs 116 crore of taxable income. The high court here had granted bail on October 4, but said he should not visit the company for another three weeks.

Speaking to Business Standard over the phone, Kishore said: “I resumed office on Monday, things are alright and stable. In two weeks, everything will be perfect.”

However, the company's corporate communication team said he had only come to a temple at the office premises, but did not come up. Nikhil Gandhi, promoter of SKIL Infrastructure, which has majority stake in Everonn, had earlier said Kishore would not be returning to the company/

While refusing to comment further, Kishore said he welcomed the Dubai-based Varkey Group buying equity in Everonn, stating: “It is absolutely positive for the company.” On October 19, Everonn got shareholders’ approval to dilute 12 per cent to Varkey for around Rs 138 crore. The acquisition was through preferential allotment. The Group is planning to buy another 20 per cent, through an open offer. The total consideration for doing so is estimated to be Rs 237 crore, according to the offer document.

The shareholding pattern after the preferential issue (after conversion of warrants) will change, the note said. Promoter and promoter group holding will be increased to 44.03 per cent from 42.28 per cent.

After allotment of shares, it will increase to 50.57 per cent. Resident individuals percentage of holding will come down from 16.33 per cent to 15.84 per cent and then 14 per cent, after allocation ofshares.

Everonn also got its shareholders' approval on Monday to raise the ceiling limit for total non-resident Indian (NRI) investment into the company to 24 per cent of the aggregate paid-up share capital from 10 per cent currently.