FT INVESTORS TO GET PAID NEXT WEEK AFTER SC UPHOLDS E-VOTE

MUMBAI: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed petitions challenging the e-vote held for winding up six schemes of Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund in December, thus allowing investors to start receiving payouts from next week. The six schemes were frozen on 23 April, when they had a total size of around ₹26,000 crore. They had accumulated cash of ₹9,122 crore as of 15 January, which will now be paid out to investors.

SBI Funds Managmentwas tasked by the Supreme Court to supervise the distribution. Payment will be made by extinguishing proportionate units in the scheme at the prevailing net asset value on the date of processing. “We are pleased that the Hon’ble Supreme Court, in its order dated 12 February 2021 has upheld the results of the e-voting under 18(15)(c) held in December 2020 and confirmed the winding up of 6 schemes,” said a Franklin Templeton MF spokesperson.

“The Hon’ble Supreme Court has appointed SBI Funds Management Pvt. Ltd. as the authorized person under regulation 41 to take next steps on monetization. Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund will provide all assistance to SBI Funds Management to monetize assets.”

All KYC-compliant investors will receive money in proportion to the cash holding in their scheme. However, investors in schemes with higher cash levels will receive bigger payouts. For instance, investors of Franklin Income Opportunities Fund will not receive any money as the fund still has borrowings to pay off.