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Theme:
Companies
Act,
2013:
Revolutionary
Legislation or Not
Title: COMPANIES ACT, 2013- A BOON OR BANE
FOR MINORITY SHAREHOLDERS?
Author: Shikhar Agarwal
Co-author: Divya Vishvapriya
E-mail:
shikhar1103@gmail.com,
divyavishvapriya@gmail.com
Postal Address: A-266/17, Aali Vihar, Sarita Vihar, New
Delhi-110076
Contact no.: +919654345372, +919971229731
College: Faculty of Law, Jamia Millia Islamia
College Address: Maulana Mohd. Ali Jauhar Marg, Jamia
Nagar, New Delhi-110025
ABSTRACT
Corporate world continues to suffer from the much prevalent disputes between shareholders.
It definitely is not a phenomenon specific to India but is and has always been a universal
problem. Allegations by the minority shareholders against the majority reverberate in
courtrooms throughout the world.
The erstwhile Companies Act, 1956, which had been in existence for over fifty years,
appeared to be somewhat ineffective at handling some of these present day challenges of a
growing industry and the interests of an increasing class of sophisticated stakeholders.
In this essay, we have encapsulated the changes in the Companies Act, 2013 that have farreaching implications which are set to significantly change the manner in which minority
shareholders survive in corporate India. This essay would try to answer the question whether
the new act is game changer for minority shareholders or a bitter pill for them. To aid
understanding this, squeeze-out and buy-back provisions have been highlighted along with
briefly discussed some other new provisions.
Only with the passage of time one can precisely ascertain that the substantial revamp of 1956
Act in the form of 2013 Act has set the tone for a more modern legislation which will
certainly enable growth and greater regulation of corporate sector in India.
Key Words: Companies Act, 1956, 2013, minority shareholders, squeeze-out, buy-back
virtually been at the clemency of the entities controlling and governing the companies.
Minority shareholders have had little or no power to influence or sway tactical and strategic
decisions of the companies in which they invest. Company management usually treat
minority shareholders with meagre or little respect even at an annual general meetings
(AGMs) and extraordinary general meetings (EGMs) of shareholders,
The majority rule has been applicable to the management of the affairs of the companies
always. Democratic decisions are made in line with the majority decision and are deemed to
be fair and justified while ignoring the minority concerns. The corporate world has adopted
this majority rule in decision making process and management of the companies. Statutory
provisions in this regard have been provided under the Companies Act, 1956 ("CA 1956"),
which is being replaced by the Companies Act, 2013 ("CA 2013").
A transaction where minority shareholders are bought by the controlling shareholders in a
publicly traded corporation, for the controllers stock or for cash, it is a situation generally
known or recognised as Freezeout or Squeeze-Outs. It is basically done to oust or
overthrow the minority shareholders from their respective positions. The only provision
which deals with minority Squeeze-Outs is section 395 of the old Act. This provision given
under Section 395 of the Act is a rarely used under which or where an acquirer company can
make an offer to shareholders of a target company and even if 9/10 th proportion of the
shareholders accept the offer, the shareholders which are remaining or left behind can be
squeezed out by simply giving them notice. However, in absence of any corresponding Rules
and Regulations dealing with Squeeze-Outs, the minority groups have only option to seek
protection from the Company Law Board (CLB). Nevertheless the judicial trend so far
suggests or recommends that the CLB would allow the scheme or contract and the onus to
prove or obligation otherwise shall be on the dissenting or nonconforming shareholders only
when the fairness standard is met. The Bombay High court division bench has approved such
an arrangement scheme in the case of Sandvik Asia Limited v. Bharat Kumar Padamsi as
there was nothing contrary to law in it. It is not proper to uphold the convening of a meeting
of two classes together who falls into two different classes having different rights and interest
regarding the resolution of a meeting. Thus S.395 of the Companies Act allows squeeze out
of only the dissenting minority shareholders of a company.
In the Sandvik Asia Ltd. case, the parent foreign company held 95.54 % of the share capital.
A scheme of reduction of capital was proposed under which the 4.46 % shares held by the
public was proposed to be bought back at Rs. 850 per share. It was claimed by the company
that 99.50 % of the shareholders approved the scheme at the meeting but the court noted that
95.54 % of the shares were held by the promoters themselves who were, in any case, not
selling their shares.
In Miheer H. Mafatlal vs. Mafatlal Industries, On January 2009, Indias capital MARKET
witnessed their biggest corporate scandal widely compared with the Enron scandal of United
States (US). The Satyam scandal popularly known as Indias Enron, whereby 300,000
shareholders of Satyam Computer Services (now Mahindra Satyam) sued the company for
their fraudulent activity. Satyams founder Ramalinga Raju confessed to misstate the accounts
and the company stock. Subsequently, the shareholders claimed damages worth Rs. 5,000
crore. However, due to lack of any legal mechanisms to safeguard the interest of such
shareholders, Satyams shareholders were denied of their right to claim back their invested
amounts. Aiming to end this, the Indian Parliament drafted the Companies Bill, 2009 and
introduced provisions enabling such affected shareholders to file class-action suit similar to
class-action suit prevalent in US and UK. Class Action, which is known as Representative
Action, is actually a form of lawsuit where a large group of people collectively brings a
claim to the court through a representative. Similar provisions were introduced in the
Companies Bill, 2011 (Bill) pursuant to the Dr. J.J.Irani Committee Report. Recently, the
President of India has given his assent to the Bill which consequently repealed the earlier
Companies Act, 1956, with the Companies Act, 2013 (Act).
Section 236 of Company Act, 2013 seeks to protect the interests of the minority of the
minority in such squeeze out transactions and aims at plugging situations where the majority
of the minority would negotiate a higher price for themselves. First, by stipulating all squeeze
outs under Section 236 to the Exit Valuation, thereby allaying the possibility of the
shareholder holding largest block of shares dictating the exit price as in case of delisting
guidelines. Second, by Section 236(8) requiring that if 75% or more of the minority
shareholders negotiate a higher price for their shares, then such additional compensation
received by them shall be shared by them pro rata with the remaining minority shareholders.
Section 236 of the Bill seems to be a rational blend of Section 395 and Section 100 of the Act
inasmuch as it provides for squeeze outs, even though it is inherently different from Section
100 as it provides for mandatory acquisition of shares (as contemplated by Section 395) as
against extinguishment of capital (as contemplated by Section 100). Section 236 borrows
from Section 100 the concept of special majority of the shareholders as a whole, and not
majority of the minority as in case of Section 395 of the Act, and enhances the shareholder
approval threshold from 75% to 90%. In doing so it rationalises Section 395 and facilitates an
exit to the minority shareholders at a fair price without the intervention of the court. The
efficacy of Section 236 will however depend largely depend on the Exit Valuation norms that
are yet to be prescribed. Interestingly, Section 395 of the Act continues to find a place in the
Bill in the form of Section 235.
COMPARING PROVISIONS FOR MINORITY RIGHT UNDER COMPANIES ACT,
1956 AND COMPANIES ACT, 2013
1. Provisions for respite allied to oppression and mismanagement:
Section 397 talks about oppression and Section 398 talks of mismanagement in the
Companies Act,1956. The circumstances for permitting or granting relief has been indicated
only for mismanagement and not for oppression under companies act, 1956. It is not clearly
specifying to which condition or circumstance are to be included under the term oppression.
The Section given under old act of 1956 only mentions about the act of the company
prejudice to public interest or repressive to one or more than one member of the company.
But the Section 241 of the Companies Act, 2013 conglomerates both the provisions of
oppression and mismanagement as one. By this amendment, relief will be granted to both in
the circumstances of mismanagement and oppression as they are included in same provision,
where earlier only in the situation of mismanagement relief were granted.
Compliance has to be signed by two directors of the company including the managing
director, if any, certifying that the buy-back of securities has been made in compliance
with the provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder. The above referred
prerequisite or requirement was already stated in the Company Act, 1956.
3. Class Action:
It is very interesting to see that now, the concept of class action has been included and added
under the provision given in Section 245 which was not there in old act of 1956. Section 245,
CA 2013 has introduced the concept of class action which was non-existent in CA 1956. It
gives power and provides class action to be established against the company as well as the
auditors of the company. This class action can be filed by the minority shareholders under
Clause 16.1 of Chapter-XVI given in The Draft Companies Rules which gives the number of
members who can file an application for class action. On close reading of Section 245 of the
Companies Act, 2013, it can be seen that the intent of the section is not only to empower the
minority shareholder and/or members of the company but also the depositors. Unlike Section
399 of CA 1956 which provides for protection to only shareholder/members of the company,
Section 245 of CA 2013 also extends this protection to the class of depositors as well.
However, in the current scenario, the provision of representation of a class of members or
depositors by a particular member or depositor lacks clarity.
hefty salaries and perks paid by promoters to themselves. They are also unable to oppose
related-party transactions, wherein promoters carry out business transactions with entities
in which they enjoy significant ownership stakes, and where such transactions are not arms
length transactions. Shareholders are the owners of a company and have the right to
disagree with the management if they feel that it is not acting in the best interest of the
company. However, what normally happens is that instead of contesting the management,
which runs the company on shareholders behalf, the minority shareholders prefer to sell their
shares if they think that company is not on the right track. But with increasing institutional
participation in the Indian market and some favourable changes in rule books, this is
beginning to chance. Some experts term this as the rise of shareholder activism in India. The
most recent example of shareholder activism is the visible disagreement to the proposed
move by Ambuja Cements Ltd to buy majority stake in ACC Ltd through a complex deal. As
reported in Mint on 29 July, Life Insurance Corp. of India, which holds 5.57% in the
company, is likely to vote against the proposal. Interestingly, it will be for the first time that
only minority shareholders will vote on such a proposal and promoters will not be able to
enforce a decision on them despite higher shareholding. However, under the Companies Act
2013, the picture is about to change.
Despite the fact provisions have been in place under the Companies Act, 1956 (CA 1956)
to protect the interest of the minority shareholders, the minority has been incapable or
unwilling due to lack of time, recourse or capability- financial or otherwise. This has resulted
in the minority to either let the majority dominate and suppress them or squeeze them out of
the decision making process of the company and eventually the company. CA 2013 has
sought to invariably provide for protection of minority shareholders rights and can be
regarded as a game changer in the tussle between the majority and minority shareholders.
Various provisions have been introduced in CA 2013 to essentially bridge the gap towards
protection and welfare of the minority shareholders under CA 1956.1
At the moment, 'minority shareholders' are not demarcated under any law, on the other hand,
by virtue of Section 395 and Section 399 of CA 1956, minority shareholders have been set
out as ten percent (10%) of shares or minimum hundred (100) shareholders, whichever is
less, in companies with share capital; and one-fifth (1/5) of the total number of its members,
in case of companies without share capital. In general terms, minority shareholding can be
1 Akshat Sulalit, Companies Act, 2013: Rise of the Minority Shareholder, 6(II), ILJ (2013)
http://www.indialawjournal.com/current_issue.html
understood or assumed to mean holding such amount of shares which does not confer control
over the company or render the shareholder with having a non-controlling interest in a
company.
Section 395 of CA 1956, with respect to minority shareholder rights at the time of
reconstruction and amalgamation of companies, states that transfer of shares or any class of
shares of a company (transferor company) to another company (transferee company), has to
be approved by holders of atleast nine-tenths (9/10) in value of the shares whose transfer is
involved within four months after the offer has been made by the transferee company. Herein
it is significant to note that approval of 90% (ninety percent) shareholders is required, which
is referred to as majority. The section further provides that within two months after the lapse
of the aforementioned four months, the transferee company shall give a notice to any
dissenting shareholders expressing its desire to acquire their shares. Herein, the term
'dissenting shareholder' is defined under Section 395(5)(a) as including shareholder who has
not assented to the scheme or contract and any shareholder who has failed or refused to
transfer his shares to the transferee company in accordance with the scheme or contract. As
the ninety percent (90%) shareholders in this section are referred to as majority, the
remaining ten percent (10%) dissenting shareholders can be referred to as minority. The
section further goes on to provide that once the notice is provided to the dissenting
shareholders, unless the dissenting shareholders make an application to the Tribunal within a
month of such notice, transferee company shall be entitled to the shares of the dissenting
shareholders and such shares shall be transferred to the transferee company. If the transferee
already owns ten percent (10%) or more of such shares then the scheme needs to be approved
by shareholders holding ninth- tenth (9/10) in value and being three-fourth (3/4) in number of
the shareholders holding such shares. In such a case, the dissenting shareholder ought to be
offered the same price as the other shareholders. However, this section has seldom been used
and instead recourse has been to Section 100 of CA 1956 to eliminate the minority. Section
100 provides that the capital of the company may be reduced in any manner whatsoever by
way of a special resolution i.e. assent of seventy-five (75%) shareholders present and voting
subject to approval of the courts. This section ignores minority shareholding to the extent that
special resolution does not reflect the intention of the minority shareholders.
To counter these shortcomings, CA 2013 has provided for Section 235 (Power to acquire
shares of shareholders dissenting from scheme or contract approved by majority) and 236
(Purchase of Minority Shareholding). Section 235 is corresponding to Section 395 of CA
1956 and provides that transfer of shares or any class of shares in the transferor company to
transferee company requires approval by the holders of not less than nine-tenths (9/10) in
value of the shares whose transfer is involved and further the transferee company may, give
notice to any dissenting shareholder that it desires to acquire his shares. Section 235 makes it
mandatory for the majority shareholders to notify the company of their intention to buy the
remaining equity shares the moment acquirer, or a person acting in concert with such
acquirer, or group of persons becomes the registered holder of ninety per cent (90%) or more
of the issued equity share capital of a company. It further provides that such shares are to be
acquired at a price determined on the basis of valuation by a registered valuer in accordance
with such rules as may be prescribed.
Besides the above, CA 2013 has sought some more measures to upgrade the minority share
holders interest. Some of them are:
First, Section 151 of the CA 2013 requires listed companies to appoint directors elected by
small shareholders, i.e. shareholders holding shares of nominal value of not more than twenty
thousand rupees (INR 20,000/-).
Second, the promoter and shareholders having control of a company which has unutilized
money raised from public through prospectus and which proposes to change its objects are
required to provide an exit to the dissenting shareholders in accordance with regulations to be
specified by SEBI.
Third, where any benefit accrues to promoter, director, manager, key managerial personnel
(KMP), or their relatives, either directly or indirectly as a result of non-disclosure or
insufficient disclosure in the explanatory statement annexed to the notice of general meeting
then such persons shall hold such benefit in trust for the company and shall be liable to
compensate the company to the extent of the benefit received by him.
Fourth, unlike CA 1956, the CA 2013 Act provides for class action suits, which will provide
empowerment to minority stakeholders to come together and seek action against the
management, advisors and auditors of the company for any oppression or mismanagement by
filing an application in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for damages or
compensation if they are of the opinion that the management or conduct of the affairs of the
company are being conducted in a manner prejudicial to their interest.2
2 Implications of Companies Act, 2013, Grant Thornton,
http://gtw3.grantthornton.in/assets/Companies_Act-Governance.pdf
But another view regarding the squeeze-out provision envisaged in Section 236 is that CA,
2013 will provide greater flexibility to the promoters/acquirer in realigning the control and
management of company as unnecessary interference from minority shareholders is removed.
This provision seems to be enabling provision to cover cases of listed company following
delisting guideline and not succeeding to acquire entire minority shareholding. According to
Business Today3, under the new law, minority shareholders will have no choice but to
surrender their shares if the company wants to buy them out. There are plenty of cases in the
courts, of companies fighting to buy out minority shareholders. Among them is Cadbury
India Ltd, which delisted in 2003. The delisting price was Rs 500 per share. Over the years,
Cadbury has raised its buy-back price to Rs 1,900. Court-appointed valuer Ernst & Young
came up with a value of Rs 2,014 per share, which was rejected by shareholders who wanted
Rs 2,500 then. Today, minority shareholders are asking for Rs 3,000 per share. The case for
capital reduction has dragged on in the Mumbai High Court, as the company and minority
shareholders have been unable to agree on the buy-back price.
Many critics of the new law argue that it favours listed multinational companies, letting them
delist easily and become 100 per cent private. In furtherance to this assessment, additional
view is that the objection to the compromise or arrangement made only by persons holding
not less than 10% of the shareholding or having outstanding debt of not less than 5% of total
outstanding debt as per the latest audited balance sheet will save the companies from being
dragged in long drawn court (NCLT under CA 2013) process by minority holders who is
holding even single share.
However, apart from these provisions, the CA 2013 contains several welcome measures to
boost management and administration activities by allowing reverse-mergers4 (also referred
to as cross-border mergers) i.e., merger of Indian companies with foreign companies, putting
in place a fast track mechanism for merger between wholly owned subsidiaries and holding
company/merger between small companies5, enhancing accountability on the part of
corporates and auditors, introducing postal ballot voting for passing resolution for
3 Mahesh Nayak, Companies Bill: Boon for India Inc, Bane for Investors (August 12, 2013)
http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/new-companies-bill-buyback-india-inc-investors/1/197720.html
4 Section 234 of Companies Act, 2013.
5 Section 233 of Companies Act, 2013.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Book referred:
CORPORATE LAWS (Taxmann Publications (P.) Ltd., August 2013).
Articles referred:
T.N. Pandey, Feasibility of Working of One-Person Company As Business Enterprise
A study, 44 Chartered Accountant Practice Journal 438 (2013).
M. Rishi Kumar Dugar, Minority Shareholders Buying Out Majority Shareholders
An Analysis, 22(2) National law School of India Review 105 (2010).
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Sindhu Varma, India: The Companies Act 2013 - Changing India Inc. (October 30,
2013)
http://www.mondaq.com/india/x/272028/Shareholders/The+Companies+Act+2013Ch
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Deepak Gupta, Comparative Study on Companies Act, 1956 vis--vis Companies Act,
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2013)
http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/new-companies-bill-buyback-india-inc-
investors/1/197720.html
CompaniesAct.in, Whats New, Modified and Dropped
http://www.companiesact.in/PgDecoding/pgWhatsInNWhatsOut.aspx
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http://www.caclubindia.com/articles/synopsis-of-companies-act-201318424.asp#.UzaY9vmSySp
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