Vodafone asks Sebi to probe Essar unit stock rise
Vodafone asks Sebi to probe Essar unit stock rise
Mumbai: Vodafone has asked markets regulator Sebi to probe the sudden price movement in shares of India Securities Ltd (ISL) after the British telecom operator objected to a merger between ISL and Essar Telecommunications Holdings.
In a letter to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), Vodafone has also asked the regulator to investigate the reverse listing of ISL into Essar Telecommunications violated the country’s insider trading rules.
Shares in ISL, which is Essar group’s financial arm, have risen more than tenfold in the past 12 months.
The British firm had objected to the merger between the two Essar group firms on Tuesday, saying ISL’s value may be inaccurately used to calculate the value of its Indian telecom joint venture Vodafone Essar.
ISL had said in June last year that its board had approved the merger of Essar Telecommunications, which owns an indirect 11% stake in Vodafone Essar.
In a letter to the regulator, a copy of which was marked to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Vodafone said inadequate information had been given in the merger scheme, and also pointed to the jump in ISL shares between January 2010 and January 2011.
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