New Delhi, Sept. 16 -- Mirae Asset Late-Stage Opportunities Fund, a scheme of Mirae Asset Venture Opportunity Trust that backs late-stage companies, its investment manager and key management personnel, including director Puneet Kumar, have paid Rs 12.75 lakh (around $13,280) to settle allegations of violating the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) alternative investment fund (AIF) norms.

In a settlement order issued on September 16, SEBI said the Category-II AIF managed by Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India) Pvt Ltd had breached the 25% of total investible corpus set for each investee company.

The fund and its manager were prima facie observed to have been in breach between January 1, 2023, and September 30, 2023.

The fund was found to have invested Rs 128.18 crore in Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt Ltd, the operator of BigBasket, which as of the quarter ended June 2023 came up to 38.35% of the scheme's total corpus. The investment was reduced to 24.44% by the quarter ended September 30, 2023.

The fund and its manager were also observed to have exceeded the cap at 25.11% of the total corpus in the quarter ended March 2023 as well. The order did not clarify if the investee company in both instances was Supermarket Grocery Supplies.

The order said, "The aforesaid non-compliance by the Fund has prima facie resulted in violation of Regulation 15(1)(c) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012 (AIF Regulations) read with Regulation 20(1) and clause 1(e) of the Code of Conduct under the Fourth Schedule of the AIF Regulations (hereinafter referred to as Code of Conduct)."

"By virtue of the aforesaid violations of the Fund, the Manager was prima facie found to be in violation of Regulation 20(1) of the AIF Regulations read with clauses 2(a) and 2(c) of the Code of Conduct."

The KMPs were also prima facie found to be in violation of Regulation 20(1) of the AIF Regulations, read with clauses 2(a) and 2(c) of the Code of Conduct.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.