Over 87% Gati shareholders vote for sale to Allcargo

Despite a strong bid to stall the deal by a section of the promoter family of logistics firm Gati, the company on Wednesday said it has received an overwhelming response from its shareholders for the proposed stake sale to Allcargo Logistics with over 87 per cent of them voting in favour of the deal.

The announcement comes amidst Gati founder Mahendra Agarwal's wife Neera and sons Dhruv and Manish last month approaching the capital markets regulator Sebi against the open offer from Allcargo to purchase additional 26 per cent shares of Gati as part of the deal, citing various court cases against Agarwal and a Hyderabad court order to attach his 1.6 million shares.

As many as 87.53 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of the deal during an extraordinary general meeting held on Wednesday, Gati said in a BSE filing.

Last December, Allcargo said it would acquire around 44 per cent stake in Gati for nearly Rs 416 crore, marking its foray into the express logistics market.

Accordingly, on December 5, 2019 , Allcargo bought 10.38 million, or 8.51 per cent, shares in Gati for Rs 77.8 crore.

In a further preferential allotment, it got 13.33 million, or 10.92 per cent, shares for Rs 100 crore.

This was followed by an open offer for 31.74 million shares, or 26 per cent, from shareholders including Mahendra Agarwal, whose Mahendra Investment Advisors owns a little under 3 percent in the company and TCI Finance owns about 5 per cent.

It can be noted that Agarwal's wife and two sons had on December 5, 2019 secured an order from a local Hyderabad court, which directed the attaching 1.6 million of his 5.9 million or 5.9 per cent stake in the company.

Following this, the family moved the Sebi seeking to stay the sale. In the letter to Sebi, they said they are part of the promoter entity of TCI Finance, one of the proposed sellers in the open offer.