(PTI)
Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) has agreed to rectify the shareholding pattern to include ONGC as a “promoter” after it got a reprimand from capital markets regulator Sebi for refusing to recognise its majority shareholder. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) asked HPCL to re-file shareholding pattern to stock exchanges by August 13 for all quarters since Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) acquired government’s entire stake in the refiner in January 2018.
“HPCL intends to rectify the shareholding pattern and classification of promoters by the stipulated date as per the direction from SEBI,” the company said in a stock exchange filing, attaching a copy of the letter it received from the regulator on the subject. Sebi, in the August 6 letter, asked HPCL to disseminate its letter to the stock exchanges.
ONGC in January last year bought the government’s entire 51.11 per cent stake in HPCL for Rs 36,915 crore but continued to be mentioned under “public shareholder” in the filings by the oil marketing company. President of India, in six shareholding pattern filings HPCL made since then, remained as “promoter” without any stake in the company. Sebi in the letter said it had in a letter dated September 10, 2018 “advised HPCL to re-file the shareholding pattern to the stock exchanges revising the status of ONGC as ‘promoter’.”
