Tag: Securities Regulation
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Supreme Court on Tainted Securities
In Varghese Joseph v The Custodian, the Supreme Court was called on to clarify the approach to be adopted in relation to tainted securities under the Special Court (Trial of Offences relating to Transactions in Securities) Act, 1992. Although there is not much by way of company law principles of even statutory interpretation to be…
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A Case For Mandatory Dematerialisation of Securities
In yesterday’s Financial Express, Prof. Jayanth Varma makes a compelling case for abolition of physical share certificates and for mandatory dematerialisation of all shares. To supplement the arguments he makes, dematerialisation also impacts the manner in which transfers of shares are recognised in law. In the case of physical shares, a transfer obtains legal effect…
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SEBI’s Consent Order in the Reliance ADAG Case
On January 14, 2011, SEBI passed a consent order in the matter relating to shares of Reliance Communications Limited (RCL). SEBI had earlier initiated investigations into transactions entered into by two companies within the ADA group of companies, being Reliance Infrastructure Limited (RIL) and Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL), and some of their officers on…
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Dealing With the Anti-IPO Sentiment
We usually come across reports of companies preparing or filing for IPOs in order to take advantage of listings on stock exchanges. On the other hand, companies also often display resistance for undertaking IPOs as they are accompanied by costs such as full-blown regulatory oversight and public scrutiny. This is so even when the companies…
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Use Ex Parte Powers Abstemiously
An “ad interim, ex parte” order passed by SEBI, directing companies in the Sahara Group not to raise funds by way of placement of their debentures, led to a debate here over interim reliefs granted by courts, after the Allahabad High Court stayed SEBI’s order. The Supreme Court has now refused to stay the stay…
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Supreme Court on the Sahara Case
While the earlier post analyzing the judgment of the Allahabad High Court generated an interesting debate, it has been reported today (here, here and here) that the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the High Court’s order.
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Public Offering of Securities: Liability of Investment Bank
In order to ensure accuracy of disclosures in offering documents pertaining to public issue of securities, regulators tend to impose liabilities for misstatements on issuers as well as intermediaries. The intermediaries, referred to as “gatekeepers” perform an important role in the securities markets. In his book, Gatekeepers: The Professions and Corporate Governance, Professor John Coffee…
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Regulatory Steps Towards Public Offerings and Transparency
The Economic Times reports that SEBI has issued a circular which requires companies with less than 25% public float to raise funds through public offering of securities rather than through private placement to institutions, or QIPs. This is with a view to increasing the public holding in listed companies and to contain stock price manipulation.…
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Allahabad High Court Stay in the SEBI-Sahara Case
(This post has been contributed by Amit Agrawal, a legal practitioner practicing before Rajasthan High Court, Jaipur and an alumnus of National Law School of India University, Bangalore) In the SEBI-Sahara controversy, SEBI has previously issued an ad-interim order on November 24, 2010 (discussed previously on this Blog) against Sahara entities and their promoters and…
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Further Observations on SEBI’s Order in the Sahara Case
(The following post has been contributed by Vijay Kumar, a lawyer and a company secretary by qualification, who is practising as an Advocate in the Chennai High Court with the law firm of Iyer and Thomas) Further to the earlier post on this Blog, a few aspects that emerge from the order are as follows:…
