Prabhat Dairy's share price settled 2 percent higher after gaining as much as 20 percent during the day on Wednesday. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has asked the company to deposit Rs 1,292 crore in a nationalised bank within seven days till the conclusion of a forensic audit.
The stock closed 2.25 percent higher to Rs 50 apiece.
The SEBI in July appointed Grant Thornton Bharat LLP as the forensic auditor to ascertain facts about the firm's statements for the financial years ending March 31, 2019, and March 31, 2020.
Last year in January, the company had sold its subsidiary arm, Sunfresh Agro, to Tirumala Milk Products for Rs 1,227 crore. Later in an exchange filing, it had informed that it would share a substantial portion of the proceeds from sales with shareholders after deducting tax liabilities and other related transaction costs.
The transactions, as per the firm's regulatory filings, were completed in April 2019. In September 2019, the firm said certain promoters intended to acquire a 49.9 percent stake held by the public shareholders and consequently
voluntarily delist the company's shares from the exchanges.
After no retracement of the proceeds of the sale transaction, SEBI alleged that the company and its promoters are not cooperating with Thornton for the forensic audit.
SEBI has clearly said that the funds in the escrow account should not be used until the dispute is resolved.
First Published: Oct 21, 2020 1:40 PM IST
