Guwahati HC puts the breaks on Shoppers' Stop IPO
Kolkata: The Guwahati High Court has stayed the IPO of Shoppers' Stop following a PIL filed by a little-known organisation of minority shareholders, North East Investors' Association. The matter will come up for listing tomorrow.

Coincidentally, a Kolkata-based organisation of minority investors, the Burrabazar Investors Welfare Association, has also moved the Calcutta High Court against the IPO of Shoppers' Stop, making somewhat the same allegations.

Justice B. Lamare (of the Shillong Bench) stayed the issue, reacting to the petition that certain members of the Raheja family (the promoters of the company) who are also members of the Shoppers' Stop board, have allegedly misled the public. The Association, has named C. Raheja, R. Raheja and Neel Raheja as the respondents and has also made SEBI a party to the case.

A writ petition, as filed by the parties has referred to Section 274(1)(g) of the Companies Act, 1956, claiming that these directors were also directors of certain other companies that have not met the requirements laid down in the statute. The other companies include Eastlawn Resorts and Mass Traders, it has been alleged.

Section 274(1), it may be mentioned, relates to disqualification of directors. It lists the grounds on which a person shall not be capable of being appointed director of a company. Specifically, Section 274(1)(g) deals, inter alia, with persons who are already directors of a public company that has not filed the annual accounts and annual returns for a certain period of time.

The Act recommends disqualification, stipulating that such a person shall not be eligible for appointment as director of any other public company for a period of five years from the date on which such public company (in which he is a director) has failed to file annual accounts and annual returns under certain clauses.
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CyberMedia IPO to open on May 4
Mumbai: Cybermedia (India) Ltd is entering the capital market with a public issue of 28.23 lakh equity shares of Rs10 each. Priced at Rs60 per share, the IPO is expected to help the company raise Rs16.94 crore. The issue opens on May 4 and closes on May 9.

Khandwala Securities Ltd are the sole lead managers to the issue.
Part of the funds to be raised at the IPO will be used to launch Global Outsourcing, a new BPO publication, and the Singapore edition of BioSpectrum, the company's biotech publication. The remaining funds will be used to publish Business Week India and Content BPO.

According to company officials, Singapore is investing $1.7 billion in biotechnology in the next five years and it intends to have the first mover advantage. The company has tied up with McGraw Hill to publish an Indian edition of Business Week, an international business magazine, officials said.

The company has nine publications in the infotech, telecom, consumer electronics and biotech areas, including Dataquest, PCQuest, and Voice and Data.
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Benchmark MF to increase size of derivative fund
Kolkata: The Benchmark MF has lifted the Rs100-crore limit on the corpus size of its derivative fund. It has also waived entry load for amounts of over Rs5.5 crore.

The Benchmark Derivative Fund, which intends to focus on generating market-neutral returns from risk-neutral arbitrage trades, had a self-imposed restriction for the first six months from the date of its IPO, chiefly with a view to maximise returns for investors, especially in the context of limited arbitrage opportunities.

According to a press note issued by the MF, the fund will now be available with a new load structure.

The MF has pointed out that the derivative fund will suit risk-averse investors, particularly those who would like to increase their return without taking directional exposure on either equities or interest rates.

According to the MF, there will soon be an addition of 70 securities to the derivative segment. In this backdrop, the decision to lift the corpus limit will allow the MF to deploy larger amounts.
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Adlabs board to issue preferential shares to Arisaig Partners
Mumbai: The board of directors of Adlabs Films Ltd has approved a preferential issue of 7.5 per cent equity stake worth $6 million to Arisaig Partners (Asia) Pte Ltd at Rs150 per share.

With this, the total proposed investment in the company through the preferential route amounts to $12 million, Adlabs informed the BSE.

Adlabs Films had earlier made a preferential issue of 6.5 per cent of the stake to BSMA Ltd, an affiliate of Bear Stearns Companies Inc, for $6 million. The two investors now hold a total of 14 per cent stake.
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