Tag: Securities Regulation

  • IPO Scam: Another SEBI Order Set Aside

    In an order passed on May 2, 2008, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) set aside the order of SEBI that directed 10 entities (including Karvy Stock Broking Limited) to disgorge a sum of Rs. 115.82 crores. The Hindu Business Line has a background to the case: “The scam related to certain entities cornering IPO shares

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  • REMFs: The New Indian Real Estate Investment Opportunity

    It was back in 2006 that SEBI had cleared the deck for the launch of real estate mutual funds (REMFs) as means to enable retail investors to take advantage of the enhancement in Indian property prices. For almost two years, there were no concrete steps taken to promulgate regulations for the establishment of REMFs. However,

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  • Disclosure Norms for Law Firms

    So far, public listings of securities by law firms has not caught on despite the first law firm (Australia’s Slater & Gordon) listing about a year ago. The legal practice regulations in most jurisdictions do not permit law firms to either take a corporate form or to issue its securities to the public. But, if

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  • SEBI Pricing Norms & Private Equity

    When the market prices of companies in India are lower than what they were a few months ago, they would obviously be attractive to private equity funds and similar investors. However, the SEBI minimum pricing norms as set out in Chapter XIII of the SEBI (Disclosure & Investor Protection) Guidelines, 2000 are hampering deals in

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  • Preposterous policy view from SEBI on QIPs and Public Shareholding

    The Securities and Exchange Board of India has issued an informal guidance relating to the Listing Agreement and the SEBI (Disclosure and Investor Protection) Guidelines (“DIP Guidelines“) that defies all logic and reason. Clause 13.A.1.1(b) of the DIP Guidelines, which governs private placements to qualified institutional buyers, provides that a listed company ought to be

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  • Improving Stock Sales Practices of Intermediaries

    Stock intermediaries around the world, such as brokers and sub-brokers, who recommend and sell securities to clients, are regulated by the securities regulatory agencies of the countries where they operate as well as the stock exchanges of which they are members. However, the stock intermediation industry has been facing several problems over the years on

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  • Price Manipulation in Stocks: Evidentiary Problems

    SEBI last week passed an order in relation to an investigation involving the promoters of Zee Telefilms Limited. This was under the SEBI (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices Relating to Securities Markets) Regulations, 1995 (the SEBI (PFUTP) Regulations). SEBI alleged that the promoters of Zee Telefilms Limited (now Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited) provided

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  • Pay Commission Recommendation for Regulatory Bodies Laudable

    The Sixth Pay Commission Report has hogged headlines. An interesting and important recommendation that will help the administration of corporate law is the recommendation on payscales for full-time members of regulatory bodies set up under Acts of the Parliament of India. The Commission has recommended that Chairmen of bodies such as the Securities and Exchange

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  • Special Purpose Acquisition Companies: On the Rise

    Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) that are also known as “blank check companies” are gradually acquiring prominence in the Indian markets. It is worth briefly examining these entities and their advantages as well as the risks surrounding them. SPACs are essentially shell entities with no business operations, and which raise funds from the public through

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  • Immediate agenda for reform before SEBI

    When a new chairman takes charge at the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) the media tends to be full of what the new chairman ought to be doing. Here are some action items that SEBI ought to address as a matter of priority:- a) The SEBI (Foreign Institutional Investors) Regulations, 1996 (“FII Regulations”),

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