Sebi slaps Rs 25 lakh fine on 10 entities for non-disclosure

Markets regulator Sebi today imposed a penalty totalling Rs 25 lakh on 10 entities for failing to make public announcement about acquisition of shares through open market transactions.
Asit C Mehta, promoter of Asit C Mehta Financial Services Ltd (ACMFSL), along with the persons acting in concerts (PACs) had acquired 50,000 shares of the company on March 10, 2010 and 49,863 shares on March 22, 2010, amounting to 1.01 per cent (on both the occasions) of the total stake, through bulk deals.
Following the acquisition, these entities were required to make public announcement under Sebi's SAST (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations.

"The noticees (10 entities) by not making public announcements on both the occasions, have failed to comply with the provisions of SAST regulations and also deprived the shareholders of the exit opportunity at the relevant time and the same attracts monetary penalty," Sebi General Manager and Adjudicating Officer D Sura Reddy said.
Accordingly, Sebi has slapped a total fine of Rs 25 lakh on Asit C Mehta (acquirer) and PACs with the acquirer -- Deena A Mehta, Asit C Mehta Forex, Asit C Mehta Commodity Services, Aditya Asit Mehta, Gopa Jayesh Desai, Rupa Atul Shah, Shobhnaben Thakorbhai Desai, Asit Chimanlal Mehta HUF and Jayesh T Desai HUF.

Bulk deal comprises all transactions in a scrip (on the exchange) where total quantity of shares bought or sold is more than 0.5 per cent of the number of the company's shares listed on the bourse.