Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has imposed a total penalty of Rs 18 lakh on Taurian MPS Ltd, its two directors and merchant banker Gretex Corporate Services Ltd for failing to make required disclosures in the company's initial public offering (IPO) documents.
In an adjudication order passed on Tuesday, SEBI imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on Taurian MPS, Rs 5 lakh jointly and severally on its directors Yashvardhan Sumit Bajla and Puja Sumit Bajla, and Rs 8 lakh on Gretex Corporate Services.
The regulator alleged that Taurian MPS failed to disclose Taurian Engineering Pvt Ltd (TEPL) as part of its promoter group and did not disclose the entity's liquidation status in the IPO offer document. SEBI held that these omissions violated the disclosure requirements under the SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations.
The order said Puja Bajla's shareholding in Taurian Engineering had crossed the 20 percent threshold prescribed under the regulations for classifying an entity as part of the promoter group. Her shareholding had reached about 80 percent during the relevant period.
Taurian MPS and its directors argued that Taurian Engineering's investment in the company had been written off and its shareholding in the issuer had fallen to zero before the IPO. They also said the entity was under liquidation and its affairs were controlled by a liquidator.