[Ajitesh Arya is the 4th year BA LLB (Hons.) students at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad] Recently, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) floated a consultation paper proposing the expansion of the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 [Insider Trading Regulations] to encompass mutual fund units. The move is interesting as it comes in the aftermath of a front...
Analysing the Co-Investment Framework in India
[Dharmvir Brahmbhatt and Devarsh Shah are fifth year students at Gujarat National Law University] Over the last three decades, private equity investments in India and overseas have witnessed phenomenal development. Institutional investors have been attracted to the asset class owing to its persistent outperformance of public market benchmarks. Historically, commingled funds or “blind pools” of...
Debunking Special Situation Funds: Is India Ready for the Vultures?
[Aditya Shekhar and Abhishek Choudhary are Vth year B.A., LL.B. (Business Law Hons.) students at National Law University, Jodhpur] The need for inclusion of special situation fund [“SSF”] in the Indian financial market was felt due to India’s bad debt problem. It is evident from the recent trend and eagerness of financial institutions to sell off their non-performing assets [“NPA”], which...
Supreme Court on Pledge of Shares: Insider Trading Regulations May Require Review
[Vinita Nair is a Senior Partner at Vinod Kothari & Co.] Recently, in PTC India Financial Services Limited v. Venkateshwar Kari, the Supreme Court held that ‘beneficial ownership’ in the context of the Depositories Act should not be confused with beneficial ownership under general law as it is merely a procedural precondition to sale by the pledgee. Further, the Court found that there is no...
Supreme Court on Pledge of Shares: Takeover Regulations May Require Review
[Vinita Nair is a Senior Partner at Vinod Kothari & Co.] In PTC India Financial Services Limited v. Venkateshwar Kari, the Supreme Court of India brought out a very important distinction between the meaning of ‘beneficial owner’ under the depository legislation, and the right of the pledgee or security interest holder to cause the sale of goods pledged by pledgor in terms of the rights...
Supreme Court Clarifies Standard of Proof in PMLA Proceedings
[Raghav Bhatia is an Advocate practising at the Supreme Court of India. Hima Prajitha is an Advocate, practising before courts in Andhra Pradesh] Recently, the Supreme Court of India in J. Sekar @ Sekar Reddy v. Directorate of Enforcement, has observed that the standard of proof in proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (“PMLA”) is beyond reasonable doubt and not...
Navigating an Alternative Route for Hostile Raiders
[Chandragupt is a 5th year B.A.,LL.B.(Hons.) student and Varnika Pasricha is a 5th year B.B.A.,LL.B.(Hons.) student, both at the Jindal Global Law School] The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations 2011 [“SAST Regulations”] envisage two types of offers – mandatory open offers and voluntary open offers. While mandatory open offers are...
Digital Assets and the Case to Redefine “Securities” under Indian Law
[Harsh N Dudhe and Pranay Bhardwaj are Year IV Students at NALSAR, Hyderabad] On June 1, 2022, the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York had alleged charges of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a scheme to commit insider trading in non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In this indictment in United States of America v. Nathaniel Chastain, it was stated that Nathaniel...
SAT Expands the Scope of Exonerating Circumstances for Insider Trading
[Shubh Arora is a fourth year student at National Law University, Delhi] The Securities Appellate Tribunal (the “Tribunal”), in its ruling in Rajeev Sheth v. SEBI (19 April 2022), quashed the order of a Whole Time Member (“WTM”) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”). The WTM found the Chairman of Tara Jewels Ltd., Mr. Rajeev Sheth, and his daughters, to have indulged in insider...
Insider Trading: Evolving a New Standard of Proof
[Shruti Rajan is a Partner at Trilegal. With research assistance from Vidhi Shah, Associate, Trilegal] A lot has been said (including in this Blog) on the recent Supreme Court decision in the matter involving PC Jewellers (Balram Garg v. Securities and Exchange Board of India, 19 April 2022), where the Court has recast the standard operating protocol used by the Securities and Exchange Board of...
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