Danny Gaekwad fails to meet apex court deadline to deposit Rs 600 cr for Reliagre acquisition

Burman family has already declared an open offer for Religare acquisition.

US-based businessman Danny Gaekwad failed to deposit Rs 600 crore in an escrow account within the deadline stipulated by the Supreme Court in the matter of Religare acquisition, say people with knowledge of the matter. The apex court had originally set Feburary 12 as the deadline, however Danny had cited an additional day time to deposit the money citing procedural difficulties in remitting money into India. The apex court had granted him till 2 PM today to deposit the money. This failure to meet the deadline clears the decks for the Burman family, promoters of Dabur, who are in fray to acquire Religare Enterpirses, people cited above added.

Last month, Gaekwad had made a Rs 5,000-crore competing offer for Religare acquisition against an open offer declared by the Burman family. While the Burman family was willing to offer Rs 235 per share, Gaekwad claimed he was willing to offer Rs 275 per share. Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India(Sebi) had rejected the open offer declared by Gaekwad since it was not submitted in accordance with the takeover code.

This is one amongst several legal battles being fought in various courts pertaining to takeover of Religare. Earlier, one of the minority shareholder of Religare, Sapna Rao filed a special leave petition against market regulator Sebi for declining Gaekwad's open offer. The petition also argued Gaekwad's open offer provides better price discovery for shareholders. However, Burman family has been contending that the bid is to delay the potential takeover of Religare by Burman family.

Separately, current chief executive officer of Religare Rashmi Saluja has moved the court seeking intervention against her removal from the board after shareholders rejected her appointment last week. Saluja has been arguing that her directorship in the company is not liable for retirement currently.

Rashmi Saluja ceases to be chairperson: Religare to exchanges

In a stock exchange disclosure, Religare said Dr Rashmi Saluja ceased to be the executive chairperson after the company sought opinion of the Reserve Bank of India. Rules require banks and NBFCs to seek prior approval of RBI if more than 30% of the board of the company is changing.

The move comes after Saluja failed to secure a shareholder approval for her re-appointment as the sole non-independent director. Last week, 97% of the investors voted against the proposal to re-appoint Saluja.