IPO aspirants may take cue from Palco Recycle, move SAT over issue delays

MUMBAI: Several firms may knock on the doors of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), a quasi judicial body, to decide the fate of their IPOs which have been hanging fire for months. They are emboldened by Palco Recycle Industries, an Ahmedabad-based firm, which moved SAT to pursue its IPO application pending before the capital market regulator, Sebi, since November 2010. The regulator is understood to be holding back some of the applications amid fears of price manipulation in the primary market. According to the Sebi website, around two dozen IPOs are yet to receive Sebi's approval and about a similar number of companies are awaiting clarifications from their lead managers. Around one-third of these documents (currently under process) were filed over a year ago. Palco Recycle Industries, which filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) in November 2010 and received an in-principle approval to list almost a year ago, filed an appeal before SAT, seeking the tribunal's intervention. The company said that it had responded to all queries raised by Sebi from time to time.