Stake sale in firm: Mohit Burman put four conditions before Preity Zinta

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 19

Mohit Burman put four conditions before Preity Zinta, Bollywood actress and one of the directors of KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited, to sell his 11.75 per cent share to her which she rejected terming these impractical and grossly unreasonable. In a petition filed before a UT court, Preity said Burman gave her this offer in an email dated May 29, 2024.

As per the email, Burman told her that she had no rights to buy his share, but he was willing to explore with her a legal binding offer to purchase his shares so long as the offers meet each of the following conditions to his satisfaction.

The first condition Burman put was to demonstrate a deposit of the entire amount of USD 85.45 million in her account maintained with a scheduled bank in India. The second condition was to pay USD 5 million by June 3, 2024 as advance subject to acceptance of her legally binding offer.

Thirdly, Burman said her offer to purchase any share must not be subject to any terms and conditions or any approval or consent of any person, including any government authority or regulator, and finally the transaction contemplating must be completed no later than June 30, 2024.

As per the petition, Preity replied to Burman on May 30, 2024 stating that her pre-emption rights under Article 19 of the company were valid and binding. In the email, she cautioned Burman that any attempt on his part to sell any of his shares, including 11.5 per cent stake to any third party, despite valid exercise of her pre-emption rights would be ab initio null and void, illegal and breach in the Article of the company.

Preity reiterated that she remained ready and willing to complete the transaction to purchase 11.5 per cent stake on mutually agreed terms and conditions, which were reasonable and as opposed to the impractical and grossly unreasonable terms and conditions as suggested in Burman’s email.

She suggested conditions that include payment of an initial amount of USD 5 million against execution of binding share purchase agreement. She also suggested that after the completion of the transaction, she should be entitled to appoint one more director on the board of directors of the company. In an another mail written on June 3, 2024, Burman repeated the same conditions and asked Preity to demonstrate USD 85.45 million in her account.

However, he said he could not promise board seat as it was not his hand. On June 5, 2024, Preity replied to Burman’s email and reiterated and repeated the same conditions as mentioned in the previous emails.