Disclose shareholding pattern ahead of listing: SEBI

• Agreements with media firms have to be published on Company’s website.
• Companies, whose capital restructuring makes a change of more than two per cent to its paid-up share capital, will have to file its revised shareholding within 10 days

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI made certain amendments to the equity listing agreement of publicly listed companies. It said it has made these amendments to enhance the quality of disclosures.

A company, after a public issue, will have to make public details of its shareholding a day prior to its listing. It also said that the stock exchanges should upload the same on their Web sites before the shares of the company are listed.

SEBI also said that any listed companies whose capital restructuring makes a change of more than two per cent to its paid-up share capital, will have to file its revised shareholding with the stock exchanges within ten days from the date of allotment of the shares that constituted the restructuring.

It added that all listed companies should maintain a “functional Web site” with all relevant updated information. The stock markets regulator has also mandated that those corporate which have agreements with media companies have to disclose such details on their Web sites and also to the stock exchanges.

To help investors to manage their cash and securities flow, companies will now have a pre-announced fixed pay date for payment of dividends and for the credit of bonus shares.

From now on, those companies issuing depository receipts will have to further segregate the details of the shares held by custodians into ‘promoter/promoter group’ and ‘public’.

SEBI has mandated uniform procedure for dealing with unclaimed shares (both demat and in physical form). If there is no response to three reminders by a registrar regarding unclaimed shares, the shares shall go into the Unclaimed Suspense account. The issuer company shall dematerialise the shares held in this account with one of the depository participants. All benefits accruing on such shares shall be credited to this account. The voting rights will remain frozen till the rightful owner claims the shares.