Yesterday, the Alternative Investment Policy Advisory Committee appointed by SEBI under the chairmanship of Mr. Narayana Murtyh issued its first report. The Committee has suggested a number of reforms on different fronts, including creating a favourable tax environment for investors, unlocking domestic sources of venture capital and private equity, enabling and encouraging onshore fund management...
SEBI Adjudication Order: Disclosure of Encumbrances Over Shares
The SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011 (the “SAST Regulations”) contains provisions in Reg. 31 that requires promoters of a company to disclose to the company and the stock exchanges the details of shares encumbered by them and also any invocation or release of encumbrance. The genesis of the requirement to disclose pledge and other encumbrances arose after...
A Rule of Reason for Self-Trades?
[The following guest post is contributed by Nikunj Agarwal, a 4th year student at RML National Law University, Lucknow and Arjun Agarwal, a 3rd year student at WB National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. The authors can be contacted at [email protected]] Prefatory It is one of the well-known principles of securities regulation that the primary objective of such regulation is to...
SEBI Order on Delisting Price
Delisting transactions tend to be sensitive as they underscore the conflicts between controlling shareholders (or promoters) and minority shareholders. The promoters are in a position to delist the company at any time they consider appropriate even though the circumstances may not necessarily favour the minority shareholders. Moreover, due to the information asymmetry between the two groups of...
Enhanced Disclosure Requirements for Listed Companies
SEBI this week issued a series of circulars pursuant to the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (“Listing Regulations”), which seek to streamline and enhance the disclosure obligations of listed companies. The three different circulars are briefly discussed below. Shareholder Voting Results In the case of shareholders’ meetings, SEBI has prescribed that a...
SEBI Denied Locus Over Scheme of Arrangement
It is a well-known fact that schemes of arrangement are a popular method to implement mergers and corporate restructuring transactions in India. While they involves an elaborate and cumbersome procedure and the oversight of the court, parties enjoy tremendous flexibility in structuring their transactions. More importantly, such a scheme is binding on the dissenting minority. When this involves...
The Satyam Case: Insider Trading and Pledge
[The following guest post is contributed by Shashank Prabhakar, a Senior Associate with Finsec Law Advisors. These are the author’s personal views] The Whole Time Member of SEBI (‘WTM’) recently passed an order against certain relatives of Mr. Ramalinga Raju and entities belonging to the promoter group of Satyam Computers for violation of Section 12A of the Securities and Exchange Board of India...
It’s the “Material” Things That Matter: Disclosures under the New SEBI Regulations
[The following guest post is contributed by Yogesh Chande, Partner and Malek-ul-Ashtar Shipchandler, Associate, at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas. Views expressed herein are personal and solely that of the authors. A related post by Somasekhar Sundaresan is available here.] Background The Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) notified the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure...
A Material Mistake in Disclosure Obligations
The newly notified SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, which would take effect on December 1, 2015 remove materiality as a relevant factor for disclosures of “acquisitions” by listed companies. The term “acquisitions” has been defined to mean acquisition of 5% in any other company and a movement of 2% in shareholding thereafter...
How Independent Are Our Financial Regulators?
[The following guest post is contributed by Bhargavi Zaveri, who is at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), New Delhi. Views are personal. An abbreviated version of this post appeared in the Business Standard] A sequence of recent incidents has rekindled the public discourse on the independence of our financial sector regulators from the Government. Critics of the draft...
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