BharatPe files arbitration for claw back of Ashneer Grover’s unvested shares, founder title

Ashneer Grover had resigned as MD and director of BharatPe earlier this year.

BharatPe has filed for arbitration at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre in order to claw back estranged co-founder Ashneer Grover's restricted shareholding in the company and right to use the founder title, according to sources aware of the developments.

The company has also urged that SIAC award Grover's unvested shares to BharatPe co-founder and board member Shashvat Nakrani for a cash consideration of Rs 33 lakh, the sources said.

Grover holds a roughly 8.5 percent stake in BharatPe, of which 1.4% was not vested and was released upon his resignation. In its last funding round in August of last year, BharatPe was valued at $2.8 billion (approximately Rs 23,000 crore at current exchange rates).

Grover's 1.4 percent unvested shares would be worth around Rs 320 crore at that valuation.

According to sources, the company had previously sent Grover a legal notice for clawback and initiated arbitration proceedings after he refused to comply with the shareholders agreement.

This is the third legal action by BharatPe against Grover, following a civil suit in the Delhi High Court and a criminal complaint with the Economic Offences Wing.

In the civil suit, the company sought Rs 83 crore for misappropriation of funds and Rs 5 crore for reputational damage caused by Grover's public statements.

“Once the Defendants occupied these key positions and roles, they treated the Plaintiff as their personal fiefdom. By willfully perpetuating the lack of internal governance policies in the Plaintiff company, they conducted its affairs for their personal benefit,” BharatPe alleged in its plea.

In addition to dubious transactions and fake vendors, the company alleged in the lawsuit that Grover contributed nothing to the BharatPe technology or concept. It said that his association with the company began in 2018 when he made a  ‘paltry’ investment of Rs 31,920, for which he received 3,192 shares.

Since the beginning of the year, the four-year-old company has been embroiled in controversy after its founder was accused of using inappropriate language and threatening a Kotak Group employee for failing to secure an allotment and funding for the Nykaa IPO for himself and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover.

While Grover took a voluntary leave and later resigned as the company's MD, his wife, former head of controls Madhuri Jain, was fired over allegations of misappropriation of funds.

In February, the SIAC denied Ashneer Grocer's appeal to block an internal investigation on multiple grounds.