Blog Posts
-
Minimum Public Float in Listed Companies
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] An area that has left an ambiguous trail over the years has been the amount of public shareholding that is required in a company at the time that it embarks on a listing and thereafter on a continuous basis. Numbers for public shareholding limits have, in the past, ranged from 60%…
-
Guest Contributor: Pramod Rao
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] It is my pleasure to introduce our guest contributor, Mr. Pramod Rao. Pramod Rao is General Counsel of ICICI Bank, and heads the Corporate Legal Group of ICICI Bank Limited. He is an alumnus of National Law School, Bangalore, and secured BA LLB (Hons.) from NLS in 1996. He joined the…
-
Guest Contributor Series
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] I am delighted to announce the launch of the guest contributor series on this blog. The purpose of the blog will be well-served only if there are group of contributors who are able to participate in a rich and rewarding discussion on issues and developments in the Indian corporate and business…
-
The Case for an Indian SWF
[Posted by Pramod Rao] BackgroundSovereign wealth fund (SWF) is a fund owned by a state composed of financial assets such as stocks, bonds, property or other financial instruments. Sovereign wealth funds are, broadly defined, entities that can manage the national savings for the purposes of investment. The accumulated funds may have their origin in, or…
-
Review of FDI Policy
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] The Union Cabinet has approved changes to the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy, and increased avenues and limits for foreign investment in certain sectors. These are: – construction development projects– civil aviation– petroleum & natural gas– commodity exchanges– credit information companies– mining– industrial parks. For details, see reports in Business Standard…
-
Some Lessons for M&A Deal Documentation
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] Recent months have witnessed a spate of M&A deals in the US that have turned sour even before they were consummated, and they have quite naturally ended up in court. In pure legal terms, these involve a scenario where disputes arise between the parties between signing of the definitive agreements and…
-
Company Information in India
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] The Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge carries an interview of Professor Tarun Khanna of HBS in connection with the release of new book “Billions of Entrepreneurs in India and China”. An excerpt from the book (which compares India and China on a broad range of factors) deals with the availability…
-
SEBI: Proposal on Integrated Disclosures
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] An aspect of the Indian securities regulations that has always been somewhat puzzling is the stark disparity in the disclosure regimes governing the primary markets and secondary markets. While a strong disclosure regime has been a boon to the primary markets where companies making a public offering are required to issue…
-
Lessons from the Turmoil
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] Today’s Business Standard carries an editorial that deals with possible regulatory responses to financial markets crises, a theme also addressed in a recent post on this blog. Here is an excerpt from the editorial: “The history of financial regulation shows such regulation is rooted in crisis. Significant regulatory change usually takes…
-
Miscellaneous: Stock Exchanges; Online IPO Applications
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] There are two pieces in the Economic Times today that deal with stock exchange operations and electronic settlement in IPOs. 1. Alternative Trading Systems The first is an op-ed by C K G Nair and M S Sahoo that explains the metamorphosis that the stock exchanges are undergoing. They write: “For…