Former Director Seeks to Stay at Paytm Ipo; Delhi Hc refuses to stop company plans | Today Headlines

On Friday, the Delhi High Court heard arguments from a former Paytm director, seeking a suspension of its Initial Public Offering (IPO), but the court decided not to halt the major fintech’s plans. The IPO is scheduled for November 8.

Ashok Kumar Saxena had moved the Delhi high court citing a “serious involvement” dispute with Paytm and its founder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma. He served as a Director on the board of One97 Communciations, Paytm’s parent company, from 2001 to 2004.

According to their petition, Ashok Saxena claims that it is entitled to 55 percent of the shares in Paytm. The former director bases his claim on his investment of Rs. 13 lakhs at Paytm in 2000. He argued that he had alerted not only the market regulator Sebi to the shareholding dispute, but had also filed a complaint with the Delhi Police.

In his petition, he argued that Sebi’s listing rules required disclosure of the ongoing “shareholder dispute.” While seeking a suspension at the IPO, Saxena’s attorney argued that not enough information had been made.

Sebi, who appeared in the Delhi High Court, had submitted that he had advised Paytm to make some amendments to the disclosures to comply with the rules. Sebi added that Paytm agreed and implemented the amendments advised by the market regulator.

Sebi submitted that with the revised disclosures, Paytm’s offering documents were compliant with listing standards.

(Edited by : Aditi Gautam)

First published: October 29, 2021, 9:11 PM IST