PNB Housing Finance says Sebi has asked company to pause share sale

Market regulator says proposed Rs 4,000 crore share transfer is against the laws.

PNB Housing Finance says it has got a letter from India’s markets regulator asking the company to hold its Rs 4,000-crore share allotment to a clutch of companies led by The Carlyle Group.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is studying PNBHF’s Rs 4,000 crore share sale after a proxy adviser said earlier this month the deal is unfair to the mortgage lender’s minority shareholders.

The deal would make Carlyle, a US-based private equity giant, a majority shareholder in the company and bring down the stake of state-owned Punjab National Bank in its housing finance subsidiary to under 26