DLF seeks interim relief from capital market ban

Mumbai : DLF Ltd on Wednesday appealed for interim relief from the securities regulator order last week barring India’s biggest listed property company from tapping capital markets for three years, the company’s lawyers said.

DLF lodged its appeal with the Securities Appellate Tribunal, which will conduct the next hearing on Oct. 30. The court rules on appeals for rulings from the securities regulator.

In its harshest ever punishment, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Oct. 13 barred DLF and some of its executives from capital markets, penalising them for failing to disclose key information at the time of the company’s record-breaking 2007 market listing.

“By doing what the order has done, namely to say that for three years you will not access capital markets and you will not deal in securities, it is as good as writing the death warrant of this company,” Janak Dwarkadas, a lawyer representing DLF, told the tribunal.

Interim relief would help the indebted company reduce part of its $3 billion of debt and avoid being forced to sell some of its assets.

In its appeal DLF also sought clarification about whether the SEBI ruling would impact redemptions of mutual funds investments or raising funds via non-convertible debt.

Dwarkadas said DLF had sought to redeem about 20 billion rupees ($327 million) of investments in mutual funds but was turned down by asset management companies because of the uncertainty about the SEBI ruling.DLF’s lawyers also asked if the company can raise 50 billion rupees in non-convertible debt approved by its board of directors before the SEBI ban order was passed.