Background and Facts Last month, the Supreme Court had the occasion in SEBI v. Akshya Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. to consider the narrow question of the whether “an open offer voluntarily made through a Public Announcement for purchase of shares of the target company can be permitted to be withdrawn at a time when the voluntary open offer has become uneconomical to be performed”, which it answered...
Guest Post: Regulations by SEBI under the Companies Act, 2013 for Promoter Acquisitions
[The following post is contributed by Yogesh Chande, who is a Consultant with Economic Laws Practice, Advocates & Solicitors. Views of the author are personal] In terms of section 13(8) of the Companies Act, 2013 (Act), a company, which has raised money from public through prospectus and has any unutilised amount out of the money so raised, is not permitted to change its objects for which it...
Withdrawal of a Takeover Offer
[The following post is contributed by Yogesh Chande, who is a Consultant with Economic Laws Practice, Advocates & Solicitors. Views of the author are personal] In an interesting order passed on February 20, 2014, the whole time member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has refused the withdrawal of an open offer made by the acquirers under the erstwhile SEBI...
Penalty for Late Disclosure of Shareholding
Last week, an adjudicating officer of SEBI issued an order imposing an aggregate penalty of Rs. 50 lakhs (Rs. 5 million) on certain promoter entities of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) for delayed filing of disclosures regarding the shareholding of such entities under the SEBI takeover regulations. It came to SEBI’s notice that there were delayed filings of shareholding disclosures for certain...
Takeover and Compliance with Minimum Public Shareholding
A recent informal guidance issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India deals with the questions pertaining to the intersection of the SEBI Takeover Regulations of 2011 and the process of complying with the minimum public shareholding in listed companies. In the case involving R Systems International Limited, the acquirer made an open offer and acquired certain shares of the target...
SAT on Acquisitions by Persons Acting in Concert
Background In a recent decision, the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) ruled on the acquisition of shares by a person acting in concert (PAC) with other shareholders, and whether an increase in the individual shareholding of that person beyond 15% triggered a mandatory open offer requirement under the erstwhile SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 1997 (the 1997...
Takeover Regulations: Intention to Acquire
[The following post is contributed by Yogesh Chande, who is a Consultant with Economic Laws Practice, Advocates & Solicitors. Views of the author are personal] In an order passed by the SEBI, Adjudicating Officer in the context of the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations (SEBI Takeover Regulations), the Adjudicating Officer relying upon a decision of the...
SPEL Semiconductor: SEBI’s Exemption from Open Offer
[The following post is contributed by Yogesh Chande, who is a Consultant with Economic Laws Practice, Advocates & Solicitors. Views of the author are personal] SEBI’s Whole Time Member has passed an order dated 6 September 2013 granting an exemption to Natronix Semiconductor Technology Private Limited (Acquirer – a company incorporated in Singapore) from making an open offer [regulation 3(1)...
FDI and Acquisition of Shares on the Stock Exchange
Under the prevailing regime on foreign direct investment (FDI) in India, only certain types of investors are entitled to buy and sell shares on the stock exchange through a registered broker. They are foreign institutional investors (FIIs), qualified foreign investors (QFIs) and non-resident Indians (NRIs). All other types of non-resident investors may either buy shares from the company in a new...
FDI and the “Control” Question
Eons ago, an English judge remarked that “public policy” is an unruly horse and once you get astride it you will never know where it will carry you. Lately, corporate India has been left to contend with another unruly horse in the form of the concept of “control”, whose scope and meaning have been stretched in different directions without the requisite precision, often altering according to time...
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