The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has upheld stock-market regulator Sebi?s order that Chennai-based Helios and Matheson Information Technology (H&M) had withheld price-sensitive information while seeking to seal the deal of taking over three vMoksha entities in May 2005 for a consideration of $ 19 million.
The SAT, comprising Justice N K Sodhi, P K Malhotra and SSN Moorthy, while agreeing to Sebi adjudicator’s view that the company had resorted to non-disclosure practice by keeping the second leg of the transaction under wraps, however, reduced the fine on this count to R15 lakh from R25 lakh. The appellate body rejected other charges that the company had misled the investors on it being a cash deal and that it had announced the completion of the deal before it was actually finalised.
