Sri Lotus Developers promoter Anand Pandit opens 5.89% stake sale at Rs 240 floor

Anand Pandit, the promoter of Sri Lotus Developers and Realty, began selling part of his holding on Tuesday through an offer for sale, putting up to 5.89% of the Mumbai property developer on the block.

The sale opened to non-retail investors when the market opened this morning, at a floor price of ₹240 a share. Retail investors can bid on Wednesday, 4 November, when institutions that did not get shares on day one can also carry their unallotted bids forward.

The base offer is 2,37,95,818 shares. If demand is strong, Pandit can sell another 50 lakh shares through a greenshoe option, taking the offer to 2,87,95,818 shares. At the floor price, that is roughly ₹571 crore for the base offer and about ₹691 crore if the greenshoe is used in full.

The sale is meant to bring the company in line with SEBI’s minimum public shareholding rules, which require promoters of listed companies to bring their stake down over time.

It follows a smaller sale only weeks ago. On 10 September Pandit sold 2% of the company, or 97,70,000 shares, in the open market. SEBI rules normally make a promoter wait 12 weeks between such sales, but the company obtained a waiver of the cooling-off period from the regulator, which let this offer go ahead now.

At least 25% of the offer is reserved for mutual funds and insurers, and 10% for retail investors, who may bid at the cut-off price. Trades will be settled one by one, with 100% margin paid up front. The seller can withdraw the offer if there is not enough demand at or above the floor price.