There's still hope if you're holding shares of delisted company

Sell it to the company during the next year. If you miss the deadline, try the secondary market

If you are one of the shareholders of Panasonic Applications who was unable to tender the shares during de-listing, there is still hope. While the company has de-listed itself from the BSE and Madras Stock Exchange, shareholders can still approach the company to sell their shares for the next one year. The firm will buy the shares at the de-listed price. “As per the norms, the company needs to maintain an escrow account (or give bank guarantee) for one year to let investors give the shares back to the promoters after the process ends,” said Sandeep Jain, director, IndiaNivesh.

After the Securities and Exchange Board of India relaxed de-listing norms in January, some companies, especially those listed in regional stock exchanges, have opted for buyback of shares and go private. The markets regulator said if the acquirer and the merchant banker demonstrate they have contacted all shareholders, the condition of mandatory participation of 25 per cent of the existing shareholders would not be applicable.

Following this, Panasonic Appliances de-listed from the BSE and Madras Stock Exchange. A number of others such as Spice Mobility, City Union Bank, Linde India, Manjushree Technopack and Srinivasa Hatcheries have announced their plans to go private.

While there is the one-year window to sell the shares to the company, what can you do if this deadline is missed as well - as happened with Shriram Subramanian, managing director of proxy advisory firm InGovern Research Services with shares of UTV Software? The options are limited. They can continue to be shareholders in the company and will receive dividends and statement of account annually. “In very few cases, the promoters offer to negotiate with the minority shareholders and offer them better price to opt out,” says Subramanian.

Subramanian gives the Cadbury buyback as an example, where the company offered to buy shares at a higher price. However, the minority shareholders did not agree and the matter was resolved in court in favour of the investors. He cautions this does not mean a person should not tender shares during de-listing in hope to make a quick buck because it may never happen. He offers his own example as a shareholder of UTV Software that went private in 2011. He missed the deadlines and is now stuck with these illiquid shares in his portfolio.

The third option of secondary market can work but there is no hard and fast rule on the price that will be paid. There are some brokers who buy and sell stocks of such companies if they find value in them or if there’s a demand from other investors. “The price offered in the secondary market varies from broker to broker. They pay depending on the value they see in such stocks,” said Manish Mittal who runs one such outfit. Of course, if all these options do not work out, there is always OLX.