On 10-10-2022, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (‘SEBI’) has issued a circular on review of provisions pertaining to Electronic Book Provider (‘EBP’) platform and its usage for issue and listing of Non-convertible Securities, Securitized Debt Instruments, Security Receipts, Municipal Debt Securities and Commercial Paper to protect the interest of investors in securities and to promote the development of, and to regulate the securities market. The provisions of this circular will come into effect from 1-1-2023.
The modifications are discussed in detail below:
1. Private placement of debt securities and NCRPS:
S. No. |
Issues of securities to be made from EBP platform |
Revised (Circular dt 10-10-2022) |
Earlier (Circular dt 10-08-2021) |
1 |
Green shoe option |
Rs. 50 crore or more |
Rs. 100 crore or more |
2 |
Shelf issue |
Cumulatively amounts Rs. 50 crore or more |
Cumulatively amounts to Rs. 100 crore or more |
3 |
Subsequent issue |
All previous issues equal or exceed Rs. 50 crore |
Aggregate of all previous issues equal or exceed Rs. 100 crore |
2. Issuers of debt securities and NCRPS:
S. No. |
On private placement who may choose to access EBP |
Revised (Circular dt 10-10-2022) |
Earlier (Circular dt 10-08-2021) |
1 |
Issue size less than |
Less than Rs. 50 crore |
Less than Rs. 100 crore |
3. Obligations of issuers:
S. No. |
Compliance |
Revised (Circular dt 10-10-2022) |
Earlier (Circular dt 10-08-2021) |
1 |
The issuer shall ensure compliance with all requisite laws, rules, regulations, etc. with respect to private placement of securities including ensuring compliance with Section 42 of the Companies Act, 2013 |
the issuer, shall include the number of non-QIB eligible participants, on whose behalf arranger(s) is making bids in a particular issue, for the purposes of compliance. |
an issuer, shall consider the number of eligible participants, on whose behalf arranger is making bid in a particular issue, for the purposes of compliance. |
2 |
Placement Memorandum and the term sheet should disclose: |
|
Details of size of the issue and green shoe option, if any, and a range within which such green shoe option, may be retained. |
4. Participants:
S. No. |
Bidding on EBP Platform |
Revised (Circular dt 10-10-2022) |
Earlier (Circular dt 10-08-2021) |
1 |
Eligible participant(s) |
|
|
2 |
An arranger |
Can bid subject to the limits for each participant, I.e., Rs. 100 crores. |
Should not bid on behalf of eligible participants for an amount equal to or more than Rs.15 crore or 5% of the base issue size, whichever is lower. |
3 |
For bids made by an arranger for any particular issue, such arranger will have to disclose |
INSERTED:
|
5. Modification or cancellation of bids:
S. No. |
Bidder can cancel or modify the bids made in an issue |
Revised (Circular dt 10-10-2022) |
Earlier (Circular dt 10-08-2021) |
1 |
In the last 10 minutes of the bidding period, only revision allowed would be for: |
|
improvement of coupon/ yield and upward revision in terms of the bid size. |
2 |
FORMAT Table 2: Details of cumulative demand received on EBP platform |
1st Column– Coupon/ price/ spread 2nd Column- amount demand at that particular coupon/ price/ spread (in Rs. crore) 3rd Column- Cumulative amount demand (in Rs. crore) |
1st Column- Yield (%) 2nd Column- Demand at that particular yield (in Rs. crore) 3rd Column- Cumulative Demand (in Rs. crore) |
3 |
Allotment and settlement amount for the bidders should be based on |
INSERTED Coupon specified by issuer: All bids shall be arranged as per ‘price time priority’.
Coupon discovered during bidding: All bids shall be arranged as per ‘yield time priority’.
|
6. OTHER INSERTIONS:
a. Anchor portion within the base issue size
b. Pay-in obligations
c. Withdrawal of offer by an issuer
d. Obligation of EBP to define the limits/ range, within which quotes may be placed, from its user interface, to avoid ‘fat finger’ errors.
*Kriti Kumar, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.