SC restrains SP group, Cyrus Mistry from pledging Tata Sons shares till October 28 – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday restrained Shapoorji Pallonji group and Cyrus Mistry from pledging or transferring Tata Sons shares till October 28. The top court will hear the Tata-Mistry tussle on October 28.
On September 5, Tata Sons had moved the SC seeking to restrain the Mistry group from raising capital against their Tata Sons shares. Through the petition, the Tatas have sought to prevent the SP Group from creating any direct or indirect pledge of shares.
Later, the SP Group which owns 18.37 per cent in Tata Sons had stated that the Tatas moving the apex court to block its plan to pledge shares for raising funds reeks of vindictiveness and oppression of minority shareholder rights.
The SP Group was planning to raise Rs 11,000 crore from various funds and had signed a deal with a marquee Canadian investor for Rs 3,750 crore in the first tranche against a portion of its 18.37 per cent stake in Tata Sons.
The SP Group’s shareholding in the country’s largest business house is valued at over Rs 1 lakh crore.
Tata Sons acted just one day after the SP Group signed a definitive agreement with the investor.
In their 152-page supplementary petition against Cyrus Investment submitted to the SC on September 5, Tata Sons sought to prevent the Mistry group from “creating any charge/pledge/interest/ encumbrance on the shares of Tata Sons in any manner, either directly or indirectly and also to further direct them to forthwith remove any charge/pledge/ interest/ encumbrance created by them.”
The plea came after it was found that the Mistry camp, since January 10, had pledged almost 82 per cent of their 18.37 per cent holding in Tata Sons — first for Rs 825 crore with Axis Trustees, which was then increased to Rs 3,957 crore by April.
(With PTI inputs)