ICICI Securities Defends Delisting, Cites Shareholder Democracy

ICICI Securities argued at the Mumbai National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that objections to their delisting plan undermine shareholder democracy. They requested the dismissal of these objections.

The company, a part of ICICI Bank, stated that the applicants have no legal standing to file objections. The NCLT bench, led by Justice Virendra Singh G. Bisht and technical member Prabhat Kumar, scheduled the next hearing for July 15.

Senior Counsels Janak Dwarkadas and Chetan Kapadia, representing ICICI Securities, noted that objections to a delisting plan can only be made by those holding at least 10% of equity or 5% of total debt, as per the Companies Act.

Given the small shareholding of the applicants, ICICI Securities argued that their objections are not valid. Quantum Mutual Fund and investor Manu Rishi Guptha, who hold 0.08% and 0.002% of ICICI Securities’ shares, respectively, had objected to the delisting.

ICICI Securities highlighted that the delisting plan was approved by 93.82% of its equity shareholders and 71.89% of public shareholders, surpassing the required legal threshold.