Top officials of the Unit Trust of India, Life Insurance Corporation and General Insurance Corporation, the FIs which control over 36 per cent of Indal's share, were scheduled to meet their counterparts in the Industrial Development Bank of India on Sunday to take a final view on the matter. "We had fixed Sunday as the last day for taking a decision as we do not want to waste time on Monday when all of us will be preoccupied with the budget," said a chief of a prominent FI.

According to him, the only option is to wait till Tuesday which is the deadline for revising the revised offer from both parties. Alcan sources, on condition of anonymity, maintained that SEBI would address the issue on Monday.

If SEBI were to uphold Alcan's allegations, it would be a rude shockto the FIs which have been more favourably inclined towards the Sterlite offer which is Rs 221 per share in a structured deal. Alcan's offer of Rs 175 per share has not caught the enthusiasm of the FIs as it is relatively lower and, hence, less attractive. "We want to take a sound commercial decision which should be supported by law," said a top FI official.

The FIs' predicament has been compounded by the series of allegations raised by Alcan on the Sterlite offer. "This kind of a situation is new to us and has not helped hasten the process," sources said.

According to them, the validity of these accusations can only be answered by SEBI as there are too many complexities of the takeover code. Hence, Tuesday will be the revised deadline to accept either offer "with or without SEBI's verdict."

Some of the questions raised by Alcan on the Sterlite offer are: a) that Sterlite has proceeded with an offer of preference capital to shareholders without adequate authorised capital; b) that the Sterlite boarddoes not have the power to offer new shares in its own company to Indal shareholders when these shares have not been created yet; c) that Eastern Galvanising, the Sterlite associate with which Sterlite has jointly made the takeover bid on Indal, cannot issue shares of Sterlite since these are not their own shares; and d) that Sterlite does not have the authority and permission from its shareholders and the central government as required under Section 372 under the Companies Act to offer to invest in Indal's equity in excess of 30 per cent of its equity and free reserves. Alcan has also alleged that the GDR shareholders of Indal cannot avail themselves of the revised Sterlite as it amounts to subscribing the company's shares which is not permissible.