The case will now come up for hearing on April 12, 2021.
On February 3, Sebi had banned Future Group founder Kishore Biyani, his brother Anil Biyani and Future Corporate Resources Ltd (FCRL) from accessing the securities market for one year for indulging in alleged insider trading activity in the shares of FRL.
The regulator also barred the Biyani brothers and FCRL from buying, selling or dealing in the shares of FRL directly or indirectly for two years, and imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on each of them. Sebi has also directed the three to “disgorge” Rs 17.78 crore along with 12% interest.
On February 15, Future Group counsel Somasekhar Sundaresan argued that the restructuring of the home furnishing businesses in the Future Group had been well known in the public since 2016. He argued that the actual terms of the restructuring were initiated only in April 2017 while the purchases were made in March to avail of the creeping acquisition limits under the takeover regulations, Future Group said in a press release on Tuesday.
Sebi counsel Ravi Kadam argued that the proximity of the purchases would point to seeking to benefit from information about the restructuring and that Future Group had stated to stock exchanges in February 2017 that actual terms of the transaction had not been finalised. Future Group counsel countered arguing that the generic reference to the term “information” is vague since information about the transaction being in the offing was in the public domain and indeed the actual terms of the transaction were discussed and initiated only in April 2017 while the purchases had been made in March 2017, the company said in a statement.
Sebi’s investigation observed that Future Retail (FRL) on April 20,2017, informed stock exchanges about the scheme of arrangement between FRL, Bluerock eServices Private Limited and Praxis Home Retail Private Limited. The demerger announcement had a positive impact on the price of FRL shares, Sebi had said.
The regulator’s investigation found that the Biyanis opened a trading account for FCRL, which traded in Future Retail’s shares just before the demerger announcement was made public.
