| | | Question of the Week Vietnamese auto firm VinFast Auto, which has shed over 80% of its market cap over the last six months, listed on Nasdaq in August last. What was special about its debut? | | |  | | Good Morning | | The News in Summary In the Adani-Hindenburg case, the Supreme Court refused to intervene in the ongoing investigation by Sebi into the charges leveled by the US short-seller against the Indian conglomerate. Elsewhere, Vedanta Resources heaved a sigh of relief after its bondholders voted in favour of a plan to defer and restructure its mounting debt, while the fight between the Burmans and Religare’s chairperson Rashmi Saluja intensified over the allotment of the company’s stock options to the latter. Meanwhile, a Bengaluru city civil court asked Wipro to take its dispute with its former CFO Jatin Dalal to arbitration, while the Bombay High Court directed Cyquator Media, a promoter company of Zee Entertainment, to deposit Rs 61.64 crore, after it defaulted on loan repayments to Axis Finance. | | |  | | | | Sc Upholds Sebi’s Supremacy in Adani Investigation As expected, the Supreme Court in its final judgment on the Adani Hindenburg case rejected the key demands of petitioners who had filed public interest petitions seeking to derail the ongoing Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) investigation into the allegations raised. A bench comprising Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra dismissed relying on a third-party report, and affirmed faith in Sebi's handling of the case. It also asked the government and the regulator to look into any infraction of law by the short-sellers acting on the report. The top court had reserved its judgment pertaining to the same case in November last year, though its remarks on that occasion had indicated it wasn’t in favour of appointing a separate investigation team without there being evidence of lapses on the part of the Sebi, which has now been given a further three months to conclude the same. The judgment sent stocks of Adani group companies and its market capitalization surging, with analysts seeing it as favourable for the conglomerate led by Gautam Adani who also topped the list of India’s richest again after a year. | | | | Vedanta Bond Holders Vote in Favor of Debt Restructuring Plan  Amidst mounting anxiety over its debt repayments, Vedanta Resources, the London-based parent of Vedanta Ltd, bought itself precious time after investors holding bonds of the company overwhelmingly voted in favour of its proposal to restructure its $3.8 billion outstanding notes. The favourable outcome, which involves making a partial upfront payment and then delaying by 29-52 months three of its outstanding bond series maturing in January 2024, August 2024 and March 2025 respectively, means that the metals and mining conglomerate now has no major debt repayment coming up until 2026. To meet its obligations for part repayment, Vedanta Resources has borrowed $1.25 billion in term debt maturing in April 2026, from a clutch of private lenders including Cerberus Capital Management and Davidson Kempner Capital Management. But it was still touch-and-go. With the deadline to get the requisite votes for the debt restructuring nearing, and only 20-40% of the holders voting in favour of its bond restructuring exercise as of 29 December, Vedanta offered a 2% fee for providing their consent by January 2, and a 0.25% fee for late consent after this date. The incentive worked. | | | | | | | | Burmans Raise Red Flag Over ESOPs to Religare Chairperson Rashmi Saluja  The battle between the Burmans and Rashmi Saluja intensified, with the family which has a controlling stake in Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL) claiming that the allotment of 8% of the company’s shares to the executive chairperson of Religare Enterprises Limited (REL) calls for an investigation to confirm compliance with Sebi’s takeover regulations. The Burmans say that the allotment of shares through Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) was done without approval and requisite disclosure to REL shareholders which raises question marks over the role of the independent directors. It also questioned Saluja’s compensation package comprising stock options in REL and its subsidiary, Care Health Insurance, issued over the last 3-4 years, which according to proxy advisory firm InGovern Research, are valued at over Rs 480 crore. What complicates the issue for Saluja is that the latest allotment came just one day after the Burman family revealed its intention to initiate an open offer to acquire additional shares with the aim of gaining control over the company. Two months ago, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) had questioned top executives of Care Health Insurance Ltd over the issue of stock options to Saluja despite express instructions not to do so. The Burman family has also asked Sebi to bar Religare’s independent director Hamid Ahmed from attending the company’s board meetings related to its open offer, stating that his recent comments on the matter violated sections of the regulator’s takeover code. | | | | Court Tells Wipro and Its Ex-CFO to Seek Arbitration  For such a low-key company, Wipro can’t suddenly stay off the news headlines. After the IT major took its former chief financial officer Jatin Dalal to court over the issue of alleged violation of a non-compete clause in the latter’s employment contract, a Bengaluru city civil court has now asked both parties to take their dispute before arbitration. The IT major had earlier ignored Dalal’s request to do so. The resignation of the Wipro veteran was made public on 21 September but all hell broke loose when a week later, Cognizant announced that Dalal would join as its CFO. This provoked Wipro to file a complaint in the city court in Bengaluru alleging that Dalal had not adhered to his employment contract that restricted him from working with its rivals for a period of up to one year and seeking Rs 25 crore in damages for the alleged contract breach. The development comes at a time when Wipro’s performance has been lagging, turning the lens on its CEO Thierry Delaporte under whose watch the company has lost nearly two dozen of its top tier executives in the last few years. | | | | Jatin Dalal, Wipro’s ex-CFO who’s now moved to Cognizant is suddenly in the eye of a storm. The soft-spoken Wipro veteran is usually only heard on the day of his company’s results. Here’s an old interview with the man: | | |  | | | | Zee’s Promoter Company Told to Make Deposit on Loan Default to Axis Finance Cyquator Media, a promoter company of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), has been asked by the Bombay High Court to deposit Rs 61.64 crore, after it defaulted on loan repayments to Axis Finance. The non-banking subsidiary of Axis Bank had petitioned the high court after Cyquator defaulted on interest payments and other obligations on the Rs 100-crore loan facility given in 2018, even as it pledged shares to other lenders. Cyquator started defaulting on the interest payments within a year of the loan and despite a partial repayment of Rs 41.36 crore of the loan amount in 2022 when Zee promoters sold their stock in the company to repay lenders, the rest of the dues remained unpaid. Axis Finance, along with IDBI Bank, had moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on 14 September 2023 against NCLT’s 10 August order approving the Zee-Sony deal, one reason why the merger hasn’t been concluded yet. | | | | Last Word Indians shopping for electric cars will soon have more choice if Vietnamese company VinFast Auto goes ahead with its plans to enter the market currently dominated by Tata Motors. The seven-year-old firm, which listed on Nasdaq last August, has signed an agreement with the Tamil Nadu government to invest as much as $2 billion to set up an integrated electric vehicle facility. Coming close on the heels of Tesla’s ongoing conversations with the Indian government, it shows that the country’s rapidly growing market for EVs is gearing up for increased choice and competition. | | | | Answer to the Question VinFast Auto, a Vietnamese automaker made a real splash on its Wall Street debut, with its market capitalization briefly rising above that of industry giants such as Volkswagen and Ford as its shares skyrocketed 270% on their first day of trading. Sadly, the bubble burst soon after, and much of those gains have disappeared. | | | Do you have any questions? Send in your queries to sundeepkkhanna@gmail.com Were you forwarded this email? Did you stumble upon it online? Sign up here. | | Written by Sundeep Khanna. Edited by James Mathew. Produced by Shad Hasnain. 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