 "Sebi to auction assets of MPS Group, 5 others to recover investors' money")
Sebi on Tuesday said it will auction 22 properties belonging to companies of MPS Group, Tower Infotech and four others on March 3 for a reserve price totalling Rs 91 crore in a bid to recover investors' money.
Apart from MPS Group and Tower Infotech, the regulator has put on block properties of Vibgyor Group, Prayag Group, Multipurpose BIOS India Group and Waris Finance International Group.
These companies had raised funds from investors without complying with regulatory norms.
The 22 properties to be auctioned include land parcels, storied buildings, flats and a commercial space, situated across West Bengal, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a notice.
Inviting bids, Sebi said auction of the properties will be conducted through online mode on March 3 during 11 am to 1 pm.
Of the 22 properties to go under the hammer, 11 belong to MPS Group of companies; 3 each relate to Multipurpose BIOS India Group and Vibgyor Group of companies; two each are of Prayag Group of companies and Tower Infotech Group of firms; and one property of Waris Finance International Group.
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Total reserve price of these properties is pegged at Rs 91 crore and Quikr Realty has been engaged by Sebi to assist it in sale of the properties.
The regulator said the bidders should make their own independent enquiries regarding the encumbrances, title of properties put on auction and claims, among others, prior to submitting their bids.
"The properties are being sold with all the existing and future encumbrances whether known or unknown to Sebi. Sebi shall not be responsible in any way for any third party claims/rights/dues, etc," the notice said.
Sebi had earlier attached some of their properties after directives asking them to refund investors' money along with interest did not materialise. In this matter, the markets regulator had also attached demat and bank accounts.
Going by Sebi's orders, MPS Group of companies includes MPS Greenery Developers that collected Rs 1,520 crore from investors through illegal Collective Investment Schemes (CIS).
Prayag Infotech had made an offer of redeemable preference shares between 2007-2008 and 2011-12 and mobilised at least Rs 131.37 crore from over 1.57 lakh investors. Vibgyor Allied Infrastructure had issued optionally fully convertible debentures to 49,562 investors in 2009 and raised Rs 61.76 crore.
Tower Infotech had raised nearly Rs 46 crore from more than 49,000 investors through issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) and redeemable preference shares between 2005 and 2010.
Multi Purpose Bios collected Rs 5.97 crore from more than 1,460 people through redeemable preference shares between financial year 2007-08 and 2011-12 and Waris Finance had raised Rs 5.12 crore by issuing NCDs from 2010-12.
These five group companies were engaged in fund mobilising activity through issue of securities to more than 49 individuals without complying with provisions of the Companies Act, 1956.
In a separate notice, the regulator said it will auction a flat belonging to Uma Saminathan on February 23 for a reserve price of Rs 51.5 lakh through online mode. The flat is located in Tamil Nadu.
The recovery proceedings have been initiated against Saminathan in the matter of Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd.
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