APSEZ promoters sell 2.5% stake to meet minimum holding norm

The share sale was conducted on June 4 through an IPP to qualified investors

Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd (APSEZ) today said its promoter, Adani Enterprises, has divested its 2.50% stake to institutional investors to comply with the 25% minimum public shareholding norm and thereby, the company has raised about Rs 1,000 crore from the market.

The Adani group firm features in the list of 105 companies, on whom market regulator SEBI had cracked the whip last week for not meeting the minimum public holding norms and imposed various restrictions on promoters of the respective firms.

The share sale was conducted on June 4 through an institutional placement programme (IPP) to qualified investors. It was subscribed 2.26 times and the company had received application worth Rs 2,260 crore.

"The IPP was undertaken to comply with the regulatory requirement of limiting promoter holding to 75%.

"Upon issue and allotment of equity shares under the IPP, shareholding of the promoter, Adani Enterprises, in Adani Ports and SEZ, has been reduced from 77.5% to 75%. Thus the company has complied with the minimum public shareholding criteria," Adani Ports said in a statement.

It added that APSEZ has "successfully raised about Rs 1,000 crore by issuing equity shares to qualified investors via an IPP".

Adani Ports, however, remained silent whether it is in touch with the SEBI for removing the restrictions imposed on company's promoters after meeting the norms.

The company had fixed the issue price of the share sale to divest 66,657,520 equity shares of face value of Rs 2 each, at Rs 150 per share.

In its red herring prospectus for the IPP, Adani Ports had said that it intends "to use the net proceeds of the Issue for capital expenditure, working capital, strategic initiatives (including acquisitions) and general corporate purposes".

On June 4, market regulator SEBI had imposed various restrictions on promoters of 105 companies, including Adani Ports, for not complying with the deadline of June 3 in meeting the minimum public shareholding norm.

In its 13 page order, SEBI had ordered freezing the voting rights and corporate benefits of the promoters of the 105 firms and barred them from holding any new position on boards of listed firms.

The promoters and directors of non-compliant companies were also barred from dealings in the market and holding new positions on the boards of listed entities till the time the companies comply with the norms.

SEBI had also warned of further actions including levy of monetary penalties, initiation of criminal proceedings, restricting the trading activities of related stocks and other possible directions.

Shares of Adani Ports were being quoted at Rs 148.40 apiece on the BSE at 1336 hours, down 1.79% from their previous close.