Sebi disposes of charges against Karur Vysya Bank

Markets regulator Sebi today disposed of the charges against private player Karur Vysya Bank as it did not find any violation of shareholding disclosure norms.

It was alleged that the bank's shareholding had aggregated to 5.91 per cent (crossed 5 per cent ceiling) in Arvind Remedies on October 15, 2014.

Further, it was alleged that the lender had 9.29 per cent stake in the company on January 27, 2015, which is more than 5 per cent and subsequently changed by over 2 per cent.

On both the occasions, the bank allegedly did not make disclosure about this to the stock exchanges and violated SAST (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) and PIT (Prohibition of Insider Trading) norms.

A probe conducted by Sebi found that Karur Vysya Bank invoked 75 lakh shares between September and February 2015. The bank was invoking the pledged shares in tranches on various dates and, was immediately or shortly afterwards, selling them.

"Accordingly, I find that the shareholding of the noticee (the bank) was constantly fluctuating and the same ranged between 1.51 per cent to nil during the period".

It is noted that the highest shareholding of the bank was on October 8, 2014 and October 15, 2014, when it held 2.94 per cent stake in the company, which is much below the threshold of 5 per cent specified under the SAST and PIT Regulations.

Sebi noted that the alleged violation of SAST and PIT norms could not be established against the bank and accordingly disposed of the matter.