Mergers & Acquisitions

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Mergers & Acquisitions

Introduction

While some Indian corporates have been bold acquirers in big-ticket overseas acquisitions, such transactions are rare, often complex, and risky. Indian acquirers have typically used internal accruals or resorted to overseas debt to finance offshore acquisitions due to regulatory restrictions preventing them from using their stock as consideration for the acquisition. Recent liberalisations in the overseas investment framework suggest that this constraint may be going away. While these regulatory changes may provide additional structuring options for cross-border M&A/ restructuring, decisions of certain tribunals on these (relatively recent) amendments may play spoilsport.…

Continue Reading Cross-Border Demergers: Navigating muddy waters

Mergers & Acquisitions

Context

Convergence of the Indian Accounting Standards (“Ind AS”) with the International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) can be regarded as the most significant milestone in the Indian accounting paradigm, which has fundamentally altered the rules for the preparation and interpretation of financial statements (“FS”) as also the ground rules for structuring M&A deals.…

Continue Reading How crucial is knowledge of Ind AS while negotiating an M&A deal?

SEBI

The concept of promoter and promoter group of a listed company finds a mention in the SEBI regulations, and assumes significance as it impacts a wide range of M&A transactions involving listed companies. After closing in a change in control deal, one needs to follow the conditions prescribed in Regulation 31A of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (LODR Regulations), to re-classify the outgoing promoter. The conditions in Regulation 31A are onerous, cumbersome, and not in consonance with the way the transacting parties and market participants think. We will also explain below how Regulation 31A is not in consonance with the SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011 (Takeover Regulations), and does not reflect the realities of deal making and therefore, needs a change.…

Continue Reading Fresh Look Needed for Re-Classification of Promoters

SEBI

Background

SEBI has been progressively tightening the regulatory regime surrounding transactions impacting listed entities – beginning with the implementation of the Kotak Committee recommendations on related party transactions (RPTs) through amendments to the LODR Regulations on May 9, 2018. Shortly thereafter, in November, 2019, SEBI constituted a Working Group (WG) to re-examine the RPT provisions of LODR Regulations, which resulted in the markets regulator notifying amendments on November 9, 2021, which took effect from April 01, 2022. These amendments brought about a paradigm shift by making the RPT approval and disclosure requirements applicable to listed companies in India very expansive and stringent.…

Continue Reading Proposed Amendments to LODR on Agreements Affecting Listed Companies – Swatting Flies with a Sledgehammer?

SEBI Delisting Regime

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”), after much deliberation, replaced the 2009 SEBI Delisting Regulations with the SEBI Delisting Regulations in 2021. The current delisting regime is essentially under two routes, (i) voluntary delisting by the exiting promoters under the SEBI Delisting Regulations, and (ii) delisting by non-promoters/ third party acquirers under Regulation 5A of the SEBI Takeover Regulations.…

Continue Reading Need for Amendments to the Delisting Regime in India

ESG and M&A

In recent years, investors and customers alike have been gung-ho about ESG, so much so that it has found its way into day-to-day commercial lingo. The term ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance and refers to three key factors when measuring sustainability and the ethical impact of an investment in a business or company.[1]…

Continue Reading Interplay between ESG and M&A transactions: Key factors to consider

Takeover of Publicly Traded Companies Flashback 2022

It was a buzzing year for control deals in India. Year 2022 saw 93 control deals in the listed space, implemented through the tender offer route under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011 (Takeover Regulations)[1]. This marks the highest number of tender offers in the last five years.…

Continue Reading Takeover of Publicly Traded Companies: Flashback 2022

Flashback 2021

The year 2021 saw 81 tender offers aggregating to INR 43,602 crore for acquisition of shares of publicly traded companies in India under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011 (Takeover Regulations)[1]. This is higher in terms of both value and number when compared to the pandemic-hit 2020 and the pre-pandemic 2019. During this period, strategic players took centre-stage in driving deal activities, making 78 out of 81 tender offers.…

Continue Reading Takeover of Publicly Traded Companies: Flashback 2021

SEBI Delisting Regulations 2021

The SEBI (Delisting of Equity Shares) Regulations, 2021 (“2021 Regulations”), were notified on June 10, 2021. The new regulations do not substantially deviate from the SEBI (Delisting of Equity Shares) Regulations, 2009 (“2009 Regulations”). However, certain incremental changes are introduced that further refine and streamline the delisting process. The key changes effected by the 2021 Regulations, with specific reference to voluntary delisting offers, are as follows:…

Continue Reading SEBI Delisting Regulations, 2021

Indian Mutual Funds – New M&A Rules! Anu Tiwari (Partner), Ritu Sajnani (Senior Associate), Utkarsh Bhatnagar (Senior Associate) and Karthik Koragal (Associate) The Securities Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) carried out a regulatory revamp exercise of SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996 (“MF Regulations”) and various circulars issued under it by way of a circular on mutual fund(s) (“MF”) issued on March 4, 2021 (“MF Circular”), effective from March 5, 2021, thereby streamlining a robust regime governing the reporting, compliance and disclosure requirements applicable to asset management company(ies) (“AMC”) and the trustee(s) of such AMCs. Reporting requirements strengthened Currently, the MF Circular requires an AMC to furnish the complete details of any indirect change in its control/ promoters of the sponsor(s) to SEBI and also notify details of a proposed change in control (whether direct or indirect) to the unitholders, by way of an email (in addition to publishing the same in newspapers. Similarly, in case of any proposed change to the fundamental attributes of a MF scheme, trustees are now mandated to obtain comments from SEBI, prior to effectuating such change. With an intent to ensure better compliance, SEBI has also expanded the scope of ‘key personnel’ of an AMC to include chief investment officer, chief risk officer, chief information security officer, chief operation officer, compliance officer, sales head, investor relation officer(s), etc. in addition to the erstwhile list of key personnel, which included the chief executive officer, fund manager(s), dealer(s) and head of other departments of the AMC. Hence, inter alia these new key personnel who are also now prohibited from carrying on self-dealing or front running activities, in addition to meeting the prescribed eligibility criteria. The revised reporting requirements extends SEBI’s regulatory prowess to monitor and bring more transparency in relation to the indirect change in control of the AMCs’ process. Relaxations and scrutiny go hand-in-hand In order to facilitate innovation in the MF space, SEBI has introduced certain relaxations like permitting employees of AMCs to participate in private placement of equity by any company, has allowed trustees to delegate its function(s) to declare/ fix a record date and decide the quantum of dividend, etc. to AMC officials. Further, trustees are now mandated to report to SEBI the MF securities dealt by them, only if a transaction exceeds INR 5 lakhs (vis-a-vis the previous threshold of INR 1 lakh). The regulator has also classified investment in non-convertible preference shares (“NCPSs”) as a ‘debt instrument’ and accordingly, limitation of a MF scheme to invest not more than 10% of its net asset value in debt instruments will also include NCPSs. The trustees now being required to obtain SEBI comments before effecting a ‘change in in the fundamental attributes of a MF scheme’ seems burden-some, as the regulator’s role, and oversight, already guarantees for the requisite checks and balances to govern the MF scheme, including for MF scheme transfers, through separate regulations and circulars in this behalf. Above is likely to add another layer to M&A deal-making, with already many layers involved, impacting deal costs and timelines, especially if a ‘new sponsor’ application may be involved, from a process, governance and unit holders’ standpoint. Albeit above ties into SEBI’s increasing focus on MF trustee’s accountability, which has hitherto been an overlooked area, given the nature and composition of MF trustee boards. Though, done with noble regulatory intent, one would have to see whether the above changes, including expansion of key personnel, further ‘spook’ trustee directors, especially independents - already an onerous position, with few upsides, especially after Calcutta High Court’s Order in the ITC / JPMorgan MF Trustees case, and SEBI’s approach qua Franklin Templeton trustees in 2020, expand the scope of potential SEBI show-cause ‘noticees’ from the current list of 7 (!), and shoot MF M&A in the knees, which was given a new lease of life recently via SEBI dropping the ‘3/ 5’ profitability criterion in Regulation 7, MF Regulations.

The Securities Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) carried out a regulatory revamp exercise of SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996 (“MF Regulations”) and various circulars issued under it by way of a circular on mutual fund(s) (“MF”) issued on March 4, 2021 (“MF Circular”), effective from March 5, 2021, thereby streamlining a robust regime governing the reporting, compliance and disclosure requirements applicable to asset management company(ies) (“AMC”) and the trustee(s) of such AMCs.
Continue Reading FIG Papers (No.4 : Series – 2): Indian Mutual Funds – New M&A Rules!