Sebi to scrap few disclosure requirements for promoters on acquiring shares

Sebi on Friday decided to do away with certain disclosure requirements for acquirers and promoters of companies, and also amend norms that will help boost the corporate bond market.

At its meeting here on Friday, Sebi board gave its nod for amending the takeover regulations in view of the implementation of the System Driven Disclosures (SDD).

"Certain disclosure obligations for the acquirers/ promoters, etc, pertaining to acquisition or disposal of shares aggregating to 5 per cent and any change of 2 per cent thereafter, annual shareholding disclosures and creation/ invocation/ release of encumbrance registered in depository systems under takeover regulations" would be done away with from April 1, 2022.

In a release issued after the board meeting, Sebi said the relaxations would be done due to implementation of SDD.

Under SDD, relevant disclosures are disseminated by the stock exchanges based on aggregation of data from the depositories without human intervention.

"The SDD for the said disclosures is already in place and runs parallel with the submission of physical disclosures under the takeover regulations," the release said.

The obligation for physical disclosures would be done away with effect from April 1, 2022.

Separately, the regulator would amend the regulations pertaining to listing obligations and disclosure requirements. These relate to issuers who have listed non-convertible debt securities, non-convertible redeemable preference shares, perpetual debt instruments and/ or perpetual non-cumulative preference shares.

"These amendments aim to improve transparency, rationalisation and removing of redundant provisions so as to provide further robustness to the corporate bond market," the release said.