Pursuant to the discussions in the SEBI board meeting held on December 28, 2017 (“SEBI Board Meeting”), SEBI issued: (i) Circular no. SEBI/HO/CFD/CMD/CIR/P/43/2018 dated February 22, 2018 (available here) (“Circular”), and (ii) the SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) (Amendment) Regulations, 2018 (“Amendment”), vide a notification no. SEBI/LAD-NRO/GN/2018/01 dated February 12, 2018 (available here).
The said Circular sets out two additional methods for listed entities to comply with the minimum public shareholding requirements, namely:
The following conditions apply to listed companies in respect of an open market sale:
Regulation 82(c) under Chapter VIII (Qualified Institutions Placements) of SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2009 (“ICDR Regulations”) has been omitted by the Amendment. The said Regulation 82 set outs the conditions to be satisfied by a listed issuer prior to making a qualified institutions placement. The deleted condition under Regulation 82 (c) required the listed issuer to be in compliance with the requirement of minimum public shareholding for the purposes of making a QIP.