Future Group approaches Securities Appellate Tribunal to challenge SEBI

Future Group founder and CEO Kishore Biyani, brother Anil Biyani and promoter entity Future Corporate Resources have moved towards the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) to challenge a Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) order that all three parties and other related entities from accessing the securities market for a year, sources told Moneycontrol.

“The e-filing of the pleas has been done at SAT and the matter is likely to come up for hearing shortly,” said one of the individuals.

SAT is a three-member tribunal from Mumbai and is headed by a Presiding Officer which is also hears appeals against SEBI orders.

The case concerns probable insider trading between March and April 2017 and the regulator’s order implies that the two brothers traded in shares of Future Retail through Future Corporate Resources on the basis of unknown price sensitive information before the demerger of particular businesses of Future Retail was made public.

On 3rd Ferbuary, after the SEBI order, Future Group issued a statement that maintained the order would not hinder their plan with Reliance Industries.

“The SEBI Order issued today 3rd February 2021, in connection with a bar on dealing in securities has taken care to exclude dealings in securities under any impending Scheme of Arrangement.

Therefore, the SEBI would not pose a hurdle to the ongoing Scheme of Arrangement with the Reliance Group. Further, on merits, the SEBI Order is untenable since it treats a well-anticipated and publicly well-known impending reorganisation of the home furnishing businesses that the Future Group effected in 2017 to be unpublished information. The Order will be challenged in the exercise of the statutory right to appeal,” it said.

The Delhi High Court has heard a plea by Amazon to order enforcement of the award by Singapore’s Emergency Arbitrator (EA) restraining Future Retail from going ahead with its Rs 24,713 crore deal with Reliance Retail.