The ‘Big Client’ referred by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in the alleged front running case involving Ketan Parekh is likely to be Tiger Global Management, the New York-based investment firm.
Sebi in an order issued on Wednesday said it observed a pattern of trades in common scrips by some individuals with various funds of an overseas entity which is a foreign portfolio investor (FPI).
The market regulator did not disclose its identity but collectively referred to it as the “Big Client”.
In its order, Sebi said Rohit Salgaocar, a Singapore citizen, and Parekh devised the entire scheme to unjustly enrich themselves from the non-published information (NPI) of the Big Client by orchestrating front running activities.
One example that it had cited was that involving the shares of PB Fintech (the PolicyBazaar parent).
On November 11, 2022, funds of Big Client sold 52.5 lakh shares of PB Fintech. Three entities which the market regulator allegedly calls front runners — GRD Securities Limited, Salasar Stock Broking Ltd and Anirudh Damani — matched their trades with Big Client for 20.61 lakh shares.
Bulk deals data from the BSE for November 11, 2022 showed two funds of Tiger Global sold the shares —Tiger Global Eight Holdings (76.13 lakh shares) and Internet Fund III Pte Ltd (51.59lakh shares). They were offloaded at a price of ₹374.09 per share and ₹375.11 apiece, respectively.
These were the only two entities that sold shares of PB Fintech on that day.
Similarly, Tiger Global Eight Holdings also offloaded 32.84 lakh shares of PolicyBazaar on the NSE on the same day at ₹388.34 per share.
