The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has asked Religare Enterprises Limited, its chairperson Rashmi Saluja and the board of directors to facilitate an open offer made by the Burman family by making applications before regulatory authorities such as the Reserve Bank of India within three weeks.

Sebi has also asked to show cause as to why Religare, the target company of the open offer, and the board of directors led by Saluja, should not be restrained from accessing the securities market, buying or selling in shares or from associating with any listed companies or registered intermediaries for failing to comply with its direction.

The Burman family, who are the promoters of FMCG major Dabur India and carbon-zinc battery maker Eveready Industries India, holds around a 25 per cent stake in financial service provider Religare.

The open offer made in September 2023 has been stalled by the Saluja-led board on the grounds that the acquirers are not ‘fit and proper’ persons for Religare.

The non-banking financial services (NBFC) company has made many representations before Sebi for the last nine months objecting to the offer. After considering the arguments, on May 31, Sebi had directed Religare to apply for statutory approvals from the RBI, the IRDAI and Sebi as mandated by Indian laws.

Religare, however, objected to Sebi’s guidance arguing that the regulator has no jurisdiction to intervene in this matter and cannot advise/direct the target company to apply for approvals. The Burmans, on the other hand, had written in the past to Sebi complaining about the non-cooperation of the target company.

On Thursday, the Burman family reiterated their stand to carry on with the offer. “We remain committed to completing the open offer in the interest of public shareholders of Religare Enterprises,” a statement from the Burman family said.

Sebi noted that the rights of the shareholders of the target company are sacrosanct and cannot ordinarily be interfered with. “The exercise of said rights by the shareholders cannot be held hostage to the designs of the existing management, especially in such cases where the existing management is apparently hostile to the acquirers and faces a conflict of interest in facilitating the acquisition of shares/ control by the acquirers in an open offer, due to proposed change in control,” the Sebi order read.