Sebi To Summon Adlabs, Alliance Mf Officials

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is calling officials of Adlabs Films and Alliance Capital Mutual Fund (ACMF) in connection with a deal that was executed at the counter two months ago.

On April 17, there was a block deal of around 10 lakh shares of Adlabs Films on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) with the first deal having been struck at a price of around Rs 55 per share.

Incidentally, this was also among the opening deals of the day on the exchange. Alliance Capital Mutual Fund had picked up the share block which was sold on the day at the start of the trading session, though there was no details about the seller of the shares.

 

Nikhil Johri, chief executive of Alliance, denied any knowledge of summons stating in a mailed response, "This is to confirm that neither Alliance Capital Mutual Fund nor Sameer Arora has been approached by Sebi in any matter pertaining to Adlabs."

The Singapore-based fund manager Sameer Arora is supposed to be representing Alliance, according to information.

A day after the deal, Sebi had sought information regarding the deal from the BSE, since the regulator suspected price-rigging in the scrip.

The company has, meanwhile, told Sebi that there had been no dilution in the promoter's equity as a consequence of the deal. Promoters hold 80 per cent stake in the company.

Between April 1 and April 17 the scrip price of the company was moving in a narrow range of Rs 60-65 though the volumes were erratic.

By May, the share price had moved up to Rs 70 and beyond and traded largely in the Rs 70-80 range, though it touched a high of Rs 81.55 on May 30.

The prices moved up even further in June, hitting a high of Rs 90.55 on June 13. The counter as such has been extremely volatile with trades ranging between 12,000 shares to more than five lakh shares during this period.