[Guest post by Malek Shipchandler, who practices law with a firm in Mumbai. Views are personal and do not necessarily represent those of the firm.] It was reported last week that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is likely to relax rules pertaining to promoter reclassification in listed companies. An article co-authored by Gaurav Malhotra and I for the Oxford Business Law Blog in...
SAT Order in the Satyam Case
In July 2014, we had discussed the order of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) then passed against several members of Satyam’s senior management for their role in perpetrating the colossal financial fraud involving the company. In its order, SEBI found several individuals guilty of violating various regulations issued by SEBI, and restrained them from accessing the capital markets...
SEBI Informal Guidance: Trading Disclosures – What’s the “Value”?
[The following post is contributed by Yogesh Chande, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. Advocates and Solicitors. Views are personal.] The SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 (the “PIT Regulations”) prescribe certain disclosure norms relating to acquisitions and disposals of securities by insiders in companies. Specifically, regulation 7(2)(a) states that where...
Ascertaining Legal Ramifications of Compensation Agreements – Part I (Common Law Approach)
[The following post, the first in a series, is contributed by Rahul Sibal, a third year student of NALSAR Hyderabad. He analyzes possible liabilities that may arise with respect to compensation agreements from different perspectives. He can be contacted at [email protected]. In the following post, he attempts to ascertain the liability of directors, who have entered into compensation...
The Supreme Court on the SAT’s jurisdiction over SEBI Circulars
[Guest post by Amitabh Robin Singh, who is a corporate lawyer practising in Mumbai] Last month, the Supreme Court of India (“SC“) in the case of National Securities Depository Limited v. Securities and Exchange Board of India ruled that the administrative and legislative orders made by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI“) are not assailable before the...
Has SEBI Altered Its Position on the Question of “Control”?
The issue of what amounts to “control” for purposes of the SEBI Takeover Regulations has been a vexed one, and has eluded any form of resolution for nearly 15 years. In a paper titled “The Nature of the Market for Corporate Control in India”, I have sought to summarize the present position (footnotes omitted): Under Indian takeover regulation, it is possible to trigger the [mandatory bid rule...
SAT on Holding Period for Inter Se Promoter Transfers
Mandatory takeover offer requirements are subject to certain exemptions. One such exemption is when there is an inter se transfer of shares among promoters of a company, so long as certain conditions are satisfied. One such condition, stipulated in regulation 10(1)(a)(ii) of the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011 (the “Takeover Regulations”), is that the...
Finance Act Amendments to the SEBI Act and the SCRA: Parliament Settles the Roofit Question
[Guest post by Shashank Prabhakar, who is a lawyer with Finsec Law Advisors] The Finance Bill, 2017, which has been passed by both the houses of Parliament and which was assented to by the President of India on 3 April 2017, has amended certain provisions of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (“SEBI Act”) and the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 (“SCRA”). The most...
Hush of the Whistleblower
[Guest post by Malek Shipchandler, who practices law with a firm in Mumbai. Views are personal and do not necessarily represent those of the firm.] The ongoing controversy at one of India’s most celebrated companies, built on high standards of corporate governance, raises some interesting issues for consideration from a whistleblower perspective. It was earlier reported that the Indian...
SAT on Interest Payment Obligations under the SEBI Act
Readers may recall that the securities law were amended in 2013 in order to confer significant enforcement powers on SEBI. This was done initially by the Securities Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 that was promulgated with effect from 18 July 2013. The Ordinance had to be re-promulgated before the amendments finally took shape by way of the Securities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2014. Among the...
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