Financial Technologies says MCX stake sale to Kotak Bank done at 'fair' price

Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL) today said its 15 per cent stake sale in MCX to Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd for Rs 459 crore was done at "fair" price after conducting a "transparent" bidding process.

The deal with Kotak was announced on July 20 (Sunday) and the transaction price was Rs 600 per share. On July 18 (Friday), shares of Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) had closed at Rs 786.25 apiece.

Responding to a BSE query on the deal, FTIL informed the stock exchange that "this is a fair price and the price that has been arrived at after detailed negotiations and a transparent bidding process was adopted."

The Jignesh Shah-led FTIL said the BSE as a corporate body was also "interested" in purchasing these shares.

On July 27, BSE had sought clarifications from FTIL with regard to the discounted price at which it had struck a deal with Kotak Mahindra Bank for sale of 15 per cent in MCX.

"Considering the challenges faced by FTIL and to ensure value protection for all shareholders, the transaction was executed in the best interests of shareholders of FTIL," the filing added.

FTIL said that the price per share for the sale of stake in MCX is Rs 600 and not "Rs 664" as mentioned in the BSE query.

The 90-day average price for MCX shares was around Rs 593 per share on July 20.

"There are multiple considerations and reasons on which this price offered by the Kotak Group, an institutional financial group is appropriate and advantageous to FTIL shareholders," the filing added.

"There has been an inherent urgency and coerciveness in the sale of these shares, which has also been underlined by the fact that in the hands of FTIL, these shares do not have any voting rights until the proceedings are resolved," it said.

FTIL had first pared its stake from 26 per cent to 20 per cent through a series of open market transactions.

After an agreement with Kotak Mahindra bank to sell 15 per cent stake, FTIL is now left with 5 per cent stake in MCX.

FTIL is divesting stake in MCX after market regulator FMC had declared FTIL unfit to run any exchange in the wake of Rs 5,600 crore payment crisis at group company National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL).

FTIL said it has challenged the finding of the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) that it is not fit and proper, and this sale (15 per cent to Kotak) was without prejudice to this contention.

Last year, the regulator had asked FTIL to reduce its stake in MCX to 2 per cent from 26 per cent.