[The following post is contributed by Yogesh Chande, who is a Consultant with Economic Laws Practice, Advocates & Solicitors. Views of the author are personal] In an interesting order passed on February 20, 2014, the whole time member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has refused the withdrawal of an open offer made by the acquirers under the erstwhile SEBI...
Scheme of Arrangement: Notice to Central Government
Since a scheme of arrangement, once sanctioned, becomes binding on all shareholders and creditors a company and also has wider impact, company law prescribes a stringent process for the same. One such is the requirement that the court must issue notice to the Central Government under section 394-A of the Companies Act, 1956 and take into consideration any representations that the Government may...
SAT on Acquisitions by Persons Acting in Concert
Background In a recent decision, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) ruled on the acquisition of shares by a person acting in concert (PAC) with other shareholders, and whether an increase in the individual shareholding of that person beyond 15% triggered a mandatory open offer requirement under the erstwhile SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 1997 (the 1997...
Takeover Regulations: Intention to Acquire
[The following post is contributed by Yogesh Chande, who is a Consultant with Economic Laws Practice, Advocates & Solicitors. Views of the author are personal] In an order passed by the SEBI, Adjudicating Officer in the context of the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations (SEBI Takeover Regulations), the Adjudicating Officer relying upon a decision of the...
Paper on Private Equity in India
In the past, some readers have asked if we could cover matters pertaining to the private equity sector in greater detail. Often, the difficulty we encounter is that private equity is not recognised specifically as an investment class under the Indian laws and regulations. As far as foreign private equity investments are concerned, they are generally treated as part of the foreign direct...
SPEL Semiconductor: SEBI’s Exemption from Open Offer
[The following post is contributed by Yogesh Chande, who is a Consultant with Economic Laws Practice, Advocates & Solicitors. Views of the author are personal] SEBI’s Whole Time Member has passed an order dated 6 September 2013 granting an exemption to Natronix Semiconductor Technology Private Limited (Acquirer – a company incorporated in Singapore) from making an open offer [regulation 3(1)...
Analysis of the Companies Act, 2013
In due course, we propose to analyze various provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. In this behalf, Mihir has recently commented upon the class action mechanism stipulated in the legislation. As for previous analyses of the provisions (as they were contained in the Companies Bill, 2011), please see the following earlier posts on the Blog: 1. ...
Takeover Exemption: Inter Se Transfer Among Promoters
A few months ago, we had discussed certain orders passed by SEBI that exempted parties from mandatory open offers in certain specific circumstances. Recently, SEBI passed an exemption order in a transfer involving the shares of GMR Infrastructure Limited (the target company). In this case, 70.3% of the shares of the target company are held by GMR Holdings Private Limited (GHPL). GHPL is in turn...
Interpreting Reps and Warranties in M&A Deals
Although clauses such as representations and warranties have become quite ubiquitous in M&A transactions involving sale and purchase of assets, business or shares, there has hardly been any litigation in India involving the technicalities of such representations and warranties. The reps and warranties also constitute some of the major sticking points in negotiations that take up a substantial...
Delaware Court on Going Private Transactions
Transactions such as mergers between a company and its controlling shareholders are subject to close scrutiny by courts. Such transactions give rise to conflict of interest as they are carried out between related parties and therefore require close supervision. Moreover, mergers with controlling shareholders may also be utilised to force out minority shareholders of a company if the non...
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