Sebi to auction properties of 7 business groups on Jun 28 to recover investors' money

Markets regulator Sebi on Thursday said it will auction 17 properties belonging to seven business groups including MPS Group, Tower Infotech, and Vibgyor Group on June 28, with a total reserve price of Rs 51 crore, in a bid to recover investors' money. Apart from these, the regulator has put on block properties of Prayag Group, Multipurpose BIOS India Group, Waris Finance International Group and Pailan Group of companies, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a notice.

The 17 properties being auctioned include land parcels, storied buildings, flats, and a commercial space situated across West Bengal. Inviting bids, Sebi said auction of the properties will be conducted through online mode between 11 am and 1 pm. Further, total reserve price has been pegged at Rs 51 crore for the assets and Quikr Realty has been engaged by Sebi to assist in the sale of these properties.

Of the total properties to be auctioned, five belong to MPS Group, four relate to Vibgyor, three pertain to Pailan Group of companies, two belong to Tower Infotech and one each to Multipurpose BIOS India Group, Prayag Group and Waris Finance. The regulator said the bidders should make their own independent enquiries regarding encumbrances, title of properties put on action and claims, among others prior to submitting their bids.

These firms had raised funds from investors without complying with regulatory norms, which prompted Sebi to take action. Earlier, the regulator had attached some of their properties after directives asking them to refund investors' money, and interest did not materialise. The markets regulator had also attached demat and bank accounts in these matters. Going by the Sebi orders, MPS Group of companies includes MPS Greenery Developers that collected Rs 1,520 crore from investors through illegal Collective Investment Schemes (CIS).

Prayag Infotech offered redeemable preference shares between 2007-2008 and 2011-12 and mobilised at least Rs 131.37 crore from over 1.57 lakh investors. Vibgyor Allied Infrastructure had issued optionally fully convertible debentures to 49,562 investors in 2009 and raised Rs 61.76 crore. Tower Infotech had raised nearly Rs 46 crore from more than 49,000 investors through issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) and redeemable preference shares between 2005 and 2010.

Multi Purpose Bios collected Rs 5.97 crore from more than 1,460 people through redeemable preference shares between financial year 2007-08 and 2011-12, and Waris Finance had raised Rs 5.12 crore by issuing NCDs from 2010-12. The Kolkata-based Pailan Group -- Pailan Agro India Ltd and Pailan Park Development Authority Ltd -- had mobilised over Rs 98 crore from the public through the issue of non-convertible secured redeemable debentures.

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