The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai on Wednesday approved delisting of ICICI Securities Ltd from stock exchanges, rejecting objections raised by some investors. Shares of ICICI Securities, which went public with an initial public offering (IPO) in April 2018, fell 7.44 percent to Rs 785.95 on the exchanges on Wednesday.
The proposal, which was earlier approved by shareholders in favor of 72 percent minority shareholders in March 2024, involves ICICI Securities becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of ICICI Bank. As per the approved plan, shareholders of ICICI Securities will receive 67 ICICI Bank shares for every 100 shares held.
The delisting move, which comes six years after the company went public with an IPO, has unsettled some investors.
ICICI Securities declared its delisting and merger plan with ICICI Bank in June 2023. Despite the sanction, some shareholders, including Manu Rishi Gupta and Quantum Mutual Fund, opposed the delisting, arguing that the share swap would harm minority shareholders.
Shares of ICICI Securities were listed on the exchanges in April 2018 at Rs 435, 16.35 percent lower than the issue price of Rs 520. The Rs 4,017 crore IPO secured a poor response from investors as the issue received only 78 percent subscription. Last day of bidding process. However, this issue, including anchor allotment, received a total of 87.9 percent bids.
ICICI Securities had told the tribunal that those opposing the delisting had no standing as the Companies Act says that any objection to a scheme of arrangement under Section 230 of the Act should be made only by persons who have at least Be it 10 percent equity or 5 percent of total outstanding loan as per latest audited financial statements.
