Once an acquirer makes an open offer under the SEBI Takeover Regulations, it has to meet a high standard (somewhat similar to frustration) before it is allowed to withdraw such an offer. This principle has been laid down by the Supreme Court in two cases, i.e. Nirma Industries/ Shree Rama Multi Tech and Akshya Infrastructure/ MARG, which we have previously discussed on this Blog. Readers may...
Guest Post: Critical Analysis of Securities Laws (Amendments) Bill, 2014
[The author is a practicing lawyer in Mumbai. Email: [email protected]] This post is on a slew of legislative changes in Securities Laws through three ordinances and more particularly, Securities Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014 (“2014 Ordinance”) which has been passed by the Lok Sabha as Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2014 (“2014 Bill”). Three ordinances were...
Consequences of Inaccurate Shareholding Disclosures
Both the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers Regulations), 2011 (the Takeover Regulations) as well as the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 1992 (the PIT Regulations) require a timely disclosure of acquisition or change in shareholdings beyond certain thresholds by substantial shareholders and promoters. Such disclosure requirements are also captured in clause...
Guest Post: Comments on SEBI’s Crowdfunding Paper
[The following post is contributed by Debanshu Mukherjee, a Senior Resident Fellow at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, New Delhi] Last month, SEBI had issued a Consultation Paper on regulating Crowdfunding in India. Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, a New Delhi based independent and not-for-profit think-tank prepared a detailed response to the Paper and submitted it to SEBI earlier this month...
SEBI: Infrastructure Investments and Portfolio Investments
Infrastructure Investment Trusts Last last year, we had discussed the SEBI Consultation Paper on Infrastructure Investment Trusts. While the move towards the establishment of infrastucture investment trusts (InvITs) was welcome, certain issues such as tax treatment remained to be ironed out. Now that the tax treatment has been addressed in the Budget 2014, SEBI has published a draft of the SEBI...
SEBI Order in the Satyam Case
Facts and Sanctions Yesterday, more than five years after the Satyam ex-chairman’s much talked about revelations, SEBI passed an order in the case against five individuals, being the ex-chairman, ex-managing director, ex-Chief Financial Officer, ex-Vice President Finance and ex-Head (Internal Audit). In the 65-page order, SEBI considers the various acts of these individuals in detail that include...
Guest Post: Disclosure of Shareholding & Insider Trading Regulations
[The following post is contributed by Yogesh Chande, Associate Partner, Economic Laws Practice. Views are personal] In an order passed by the SEBI Adjudicating Officer against an employee (Noticee) of a listed company, it was held that the “Head of Human Resources” of a particular vertical of the company is also an “officer” within the meaning of the definition of section 2(30) of the Companies...
SEBI Order on Delisting
A few weeks ago, we discussed SEBI’s proposals to overhaul the delisting regime. Evident from that discussion were difficulties faced in the current delisting regime. Some of those difficulties have surfaced in an order issued by SEBI yesterday involving the delisting of AstraZeneca Pharma India Limited. SEBI’s order alleges a concerted action between the controlling shareholder of the target and...
SEBI Consultation Paper on Crowdfunding
We have previously discussed the concept of crowdfunding and the broad nature of the legal issues that it might give rise to. Essentially, crowdfunding that involves the issue of securities (equity or debt) would attract the provisions of company law as well as securities laws. While specific crowdfunding legislation has been introduced in several countries (e.g. JOBS Act in the US), there has...
Proposal to Overhaul Delisting Regime
Delisting of companies from the stock exchange (also known as privatization) has become a common phenomenon around the world, as it has in India. The rationale for delisting a company is detailed below: A number of reasons are proffered as motivations for delisting. Where there is a perception that the market price of the company is not reflective of the true value of its businesses, share price...
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