Sebi fines UB over USL share pledge

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has imposed a Rs. 15-lakh penalty on United Breweries (Holding) Limited for not making the required disclosures on pledging of shares of United Spirits Limited (USL) within the regulatory time frame. “From the details submitted by the stock exchange(s) and the details provided by the notices [United Breweries (Holding) Limited and Kingfisher Finvest India Limited , it was revealed that the noticees had failed to make disclosures regarding creation/ invocation/ release of their certain pledges transaction as required under regulation 31 of the SAST Regulations,” said the Sebi order. SAST refers to the Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers. The regulator initiated a probe after the share price of United Spirits Limited increased from Rs. 491.15 on December 30, 2011, to Rs. 2,149 on November 9, 2012. It was found that the two companies, which are also the promoter entities of USL, had undertaken multiple pledge transactions but the required disclosures to the stock exchanges were not made within the deadline. Sebi guidelines require disclosures related to pledging of shares or even invocation or release of pledged shares to be made within seven working days.