Tag: SEBI
-
Shareholders and Their Duties under Indian Law
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] Under the Companies Act, 1956, shareholding in an Indian company is almost entirely associated with concepts like rights, entitlements and ownership. This emanates from Section 82, which reads as follows: The shares or debentures or other interest of any member in a company shall be movable property, transferable in the manner…
-
Venture Capital – Foreign and Domestic: Some Comparisons
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] Consistent with the expansion of the venture capital industry in India, the regulatory regime has been formulated with a view to foster such growth. While the domestic venture capital industry is governed by the SEBI (Venture Capital Funds) Regulations, 1996, the foreign venture capital industry (investing into Indian companies) is governed…
-
SEBI Notification Regarding Anchor Investors, etc.
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] RNI-1300 A couple of weeks ago, we had discussed some primary market reforms that were announced by SEBI. Most of those reforms have now been notified by SEBI by way of amendments to the SEBI (Disclosure and Investor Protection) Guidelines, 2000. The notification contains a fair amount of detail regarding anchor…
-
Depository Receipts and the Takeover Regulations
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] SEBI yesterday published its informal guidance in the matter pertaining to Bharti Airtel Limited. The question was whether the acquisition of 36% global depository receipts (GDRs) in Bharti Airtel Limited by MTN and its shareholders as part of the combination transaction would trigger various obligations under the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of…
-
Foreign Venture Capital: Firm Commitment
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] In order to obliterate the disparity in firm commitment requirements for domestic venture capital funds (VCFs) and foreign venture capital investors (FVCI), SEBI has introduced a new requirement whereby FVCIs are to obtain firm commitment from their investors for contribution of at least US$ 1 million at the time of submission…
-
SEBI’s Recent Primary Market Reforms
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] SEBI last week announced a slew of reforms to the primary capital markets. The key reforms are as follows: Anchor InvestorsThe concept of “anchor investors” has been introduced in public issues whereby 30% of the institutional (QIB) portion will be allocated to anchor investors on a discretionary basis. This is to…
-
Delisting Regulations could make fresh delistings an impossibility
[Posted by Somasekhar Sundaresan] Today’s Business Standard published this column from me on the newly notified SEBI (Delisting of Equity Shares) Regulations, 2009. The new law makes delisting next to impossible.
-
Shareholder Activism and Class Action Lawsuits
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] Recent developments in the Indian corporate sphere – Satyam being the prime example – have raised several calls for instilling the culture of shareholder activism in India. One key form of such activism that keeps companies under check is the availability of class action lawsuits for securities law violations by companies,…
-
Pyramid Saimira and the Powers of the SEBI
[Posted by Mihir Naniwadekar] A few weeks ago, the SEBI passed an order (WTM/KMA/60/04/2009) in the Pyramid Saimira case, which raises questions pertaining to insider trading. The order resulted from SEBI’s investigation into the affairs of Pyramid Saimira, highlighted in this post. The particular sequence of events is discussed in several reports, linked here and…
-
Staid Capital Markets
[Posted by Umakanth Varottil] Primary capital market activity in the form of public offerings and rights offerings is virtually down to a trickle. While that is not at all surprising considering the somber market conditions, some numbers have been recently reported in the Business Standard as follows: Fund mobilisation through initial public offerings (IPOs) touched…