Economic Times : Company says not enough people asking for exit !!

“SSTL has thousands of shareholders and is yet to receive any concern relating to the exit option from even 100 shareholders,” the company has said


We at AMSOST would like all shareholders to write to the company to give the court directed exit option.
The e-mails may be directed to the Co. Secy Sh. Rashid Malik at rashid.malik@mtsindia.in
Alternatively the emails may be sent to amsost@gmail.com and we will forward the same. ***********

Minority Sistema Investors Left High & Dry With cancellation of telecom licences, 7-yr wait of 18k investors to get dues got longer OUR BUREAU MUMBAI More than 18,000 minority shareholders of Sistema Shyam TeleServices are probably nearing a dead end after aseven-year wait to get what is due to them just got complicated with the Supreme Court cancelling 122 mobile telecom licences. The stakeholders who fought a legal battle with Shyam Telecom and its promoters Rajiv Mehrotra and Alok Tandon for not fulfilling a court direction to list the shares, see little signs of benefits accruing to them now after the court ruling. “There is no hope,’’ says Gokulchand Bansal, an investor from Kolkatta who owns around 5,000 shares in the company. “Despite the court order, company has not provided any exit opportunity. We don’t know whom to approach with our grievances.’’ The board of directors of Sistema Shyam TeleServices, the mobile phone operator that runs the MTS brand of services, will meet in March to consider the minority holders’ grievances, but it may be too late since the business prospects of the company are uncertain after the court order, said a person familiar with the development. In 2005, Shyam Telecom was split into two, with the second company being Shyam Telelink which has been rechristened Sistema Shyam Tele-Services which is now a joint venture with Russia’s Sistema. Owners of Shyam Telecom got 35 shares of the company, and 784 shares of Shyam Telelink for every 100 shares they held. That translated into an 85% ownership for promoters and 15% for minority shareholders in Shyam Telelink. Shyam Group promoters’ intent has been questioned by minority holders when the company did not fulfill the Rajasthan High Court order to list the spun off company, Shyam Telelink, in 2005. While the normal process leads to listing of the spun-off entity, Shyam Telelink did not get listed on the stock exchanges. But it sold new shares that diluted minority holders. “SSTL has thousands of shareholders and is yet to receive any concern relating to the exit option from even 100 shareholders,” the company said. “The matter is still under progress and all the shareholders of the company are also informed on the matter.” But between the 2006 court approval and now, the promoters sold new shares in Sistema Shyam that brought down minority holders’ stake to just 2%, from 15%. From September 2007 to March last year, Sistema and the Russian Russian Federal Agency-Rosimushchestvo’s stake rose to 74% from 10%. Because of the change in the shareholding pattern and other reasons, Sebi declined to allow the company to list Sistema Shyam’s shares. Following this, the promoters sought High Court permission to drop the listing condition which was a precondition to approve splitting of the company. But that was dismissed. Since Sebi declined to hear out minority holders, citing that it is an unlisted company, many retail shareholders have written to the ministry of corporate affairs to bail them out.