SAT dismisses IP Holding's plea in AP Paper buy back case

The Securities Appellate Tribunal SAT ) has dismissed the appeal filed by IP Holding seeking relief from SEBI order which asked the company to increase its share buyback price. The court has however, given time of four weeks to appeal to higher court.On Wednesday, upholding market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) ruling SAT dismissed the plea filed by International Paper Company 's subsidiary IP Holdings. Earlier, market regulator had asked company to raise its buyback price by including the non-compete fee, which had led the acquirer to file an appeal in tribunal.Earlier, Sebi in its observation letter directed the acquirers to revise the offer price which the acquirers had indicated in the public advertisement. In the letter market regulator observed that certain promoter group was not eligible to receive the non-compete fee.Therefore the regulator directed the open offer price be revised to include the non-compete fee to all the retail share holders as well.According to SEBI's order, IP Holding needs to pay Rs 130 a share to retail share holders as non-compete fees. Senior Counsel Janak Dwarkadas argued on behalf of appellant while Senior Counsel Kumar Desai argued on behalf of market regulator Sebi.