Bangalore hotelier takes Oyo IPO complaints to SEBI; Oyo says matter adequately disclosed in DRHP

Weeks after Zostel filed a complaint, a Bangalore-based hotelier has reached out to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) requesting an intervention to halt the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of Oyo claiming misrepresentation in the draft prospectus.

M/s. Jagadish, a partnership firm has alleged that Oyo faltered on payments, neglected property maintenance leading to damages and abandoned the hotel properties without proper termination of the agreement. It has claimed that Oyo is due to pay him Rs 10 crore.

The hotelier has also filed three applications before the NCLT, Ahmedabad to initiate Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against Oyo.

This happens even as Oyo has mentioned about the issues pertaining to M/s Jagadish in the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) issued earlier this month.

"OHHPL has received advance service of three separate petitions dated August 17, 2021 been filed by M/s Jagadish, a partnership firm, claiming to be an operational creditor of OHHPL under section 9 of the IBC, before the National Company Law Tribunal, Ahmedabad seeking initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process against OHHPL," the company has mentioned in the DRHP adding that it hadn't received any notice from the NCLT till then.

In its complaint to SEBI, the hotelier has claimed that Oyo has failed to adhere to the disclosure norms which mandates the issuer to mention the summary of all outstanding litigations in a "tabular" format along with the respective amounts involved, if quantifiable.

“Proceeding with such public issue of shares without acknowledging and properly disclosing the debts of its key and material subsidiary is against the interest of the investing public to the proposed IPO,” said  T. S Suresh, Managing Partner of T S Suresh  Associates, who is representing the hotelier in this matter.

“This is one of the few cases of disagreement with a hotel partner. This dispute is sub-judice and has been adequately disclosed in our DRHP in accordance with the ICDR Regulations," the company told Moneycontrol.

"We had to, unfortunately, end our agreements due to lack of certain compliances. For instance, one of the hotels owned by the claimant couldn't make available a Fire No Objection Certificate. We encourage the claimant to resolve the dispute through a formal arbitration process as laid out in our agreement with him," it added.

Earlier this month, Zostel Hospitality Pvt Ltd the parent firm of Zo Rooms filed a complaint with the SEBI seeking rejection of Oyo's IPO citing "misstatements" and "inadequate disclosures" in the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) filed by them.

In the 98-page long document, Zostel has mentioned that the IPO is non-maintainable as Oyo's parent firm Oravel’s capital structure is not final.

Oyo is expected to raise $1.2 billion (Rs 8,430 crore) via an initial public offering (IPO) on the Indian Stock Exchanges around Christmas or New year.