Sebi bars Mishtann Foods from raising public funds for seven years

The market regulator on Thursday restrained Mishtann Foods from raising any public funds for seven years over alleged gross misrepresentation of financial statements.

 

Further, the managing director and several other directors have been restricted from accessing the securities market until further orders.

 

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) pointed out that almost all sale and purchase transactions of Mishtann Foods Ltd (MFL) since FY20 were prima facie found to be fictitious.

 

The company has also been directed to bring back the proceeds from its rights issue in April, amounting to Rs 49.82 crore, which were allegedly misutilised or diverted through group entities to the promoters and directors of the company.

 

Mishtann has also been instructed to appoint a new audit committee to oversee related-party transactions.

 

The public shareholding in the company stood at more than 50 per cent, with over 4.23 lakh shareholders at the end of the September quarter. The number of public shareholders in 2018 was only 516.