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India market regulator mandates enhanced disclosure norms for IPO-bound companies (Fri, 30 Sep 2022)
By Abhirup Roy MUMBAI (Reuters) – India’s market regulator on Friday mandated enhanced disclosure norms for IPO-bound companies amid concerns that traditional financial disclosures were inadequate for some firms that typically remain loss making for a longer period. The Securities and Exchange Board of India said after a meeting of its board that companies would have to disclose key performance indicators, details of pricing of shares based on past transactions and past fund raising from its investors. “The working hypothesis here is that the indicators that the company has itself internally been monitoring as well as sharing with their early private equity investors … those are the parameters that would be relevant equally for the retail investor to know,” SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch said. “There should be no information asymmetry,” she added. Reuters reported in March that SEBI had started asking IPO hopefuls for such details even before the proposals were finalised, unsettling bankers and companies who feared delays to their listing plans. The Board also allowed companies planning a stock market listing to submit a confidential “pre-filing” document, – a practice followed in the United States and Canada – to safeguard their sensitive business information. Analysts believe that the move is in the right direction. “This will go a long way in preventing price speculation which currently happens way before certainty of an IPO,” said Arka Mookerjee, a Partner at JSA, a national law firm in India. SEBI also said the board had approved amendments to insider trading regulations to include mutual funds in its ambit. The move comes more than a year after SEBI accused a senior executive of U.S. money manager Franklin Templeton (FT) and his family members of using non-public information to sell holdings worth about $4 million in Franklin debt funds that were shut down weeks later and caused investor panic. In India, insider trading rules are applicable to those who deal in listed securities while in possession of unpublished price sensitive information. Separately, SEBI has also provided more flexibility in approval process for appointment and removal of independent directors on the board. Among other changes, the market regulator also said it would facilitate faster payout of redemptions to mutual fund unit holders. (Reporting by Abhirup Roy in Mumbai; Additional reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar and Nupur Anand; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Raissa Kasolowsky) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
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Ukraine applies for NATO membership, rules out Putin talks (Fri, 30 Sep 2022)
By Tom Balmforth KYIV (Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced a surprise bid for fast-track membership of the NATO military alliance on Friday and ruled out talks with President Vladimir Putin, striking back at Moscow after it said it had annexed four Ukrainian regions. Zelenskiy signed the NATO application papers in an online video clearly intended as a forceful rebuttal to the Kremlin after Putin held a ceremony in Moscow to proclaim the four partially occupied regions as annexed Russian land. “We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine’s application for accelerated accession to NATO,” Zelenskiy said in the video on the Telegram app. The video showed Zelenskiy in combat fatigues announcing the membership bid and signing a document flanked by his prime minister and the speaker of parliament. The announcement was likely to touch a nerve in Moscow which casts the NATO bloc at home as a hostile military alliance bent on encroaching on Moscow’s sphere of influence. Before Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine in February, Moscow was demanding legally binding guarantees that Ukraine would never be admitted to the U.S.-led transatlantic defence alliance. Kyiv and the West say Moscow used this as a pretext, among others, to launch a pre-planned military campaign against Ukraine. By applying for fast-track membership of NATO, Zelenskiy appears intent on showing Putin is failing in one of his main war goals – preventing Ukraine joining NATO. NO TALKS WITH PUTIN In his video speech, Zelenskiy accused Russia of rewriting history and redrawing borders “using murder, blackmail, mistreatment and lies,” something he said Kyiv would not allow. He said however that Kyiv remained committed to the idea of co-existence with Russia “on equal, honest, dignified and fair conditions”. “Clearly, with this Russian president (that) is impossible. He does not know what dignity and honesty are. Therefore, we are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but with another president of Russia,” Zelenskiy said. Zelenskiy said that while Ukraine waits for consensus among NATO member states, it could be protected under draft security guarantees proposed by Kyiv and known as the Kyiv Security Compact, which Moscow has rejected as an idea. “We understand that this requires the consensus of all the alliance’s members… and therefore, while this is happening, we propose the realization of our proposals regarding security guarantees for Ukraine and all of Europe according to the Kyiv Security Compact,” he said. (Reporting by Max Hunder; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Timothy Heritage) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
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Japan to pay up to $320M for US company’s chip production (Fri, 30 Sep 2022)
( ) -q-27- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “the two countries.” Japan said it is providing a major U.S. chipmaker a subsidy of up to $322 million to back its plan to produce advanced memory chips at a Hiroshima factory. [CutID: <Cuts> JAPAN-CHIPMAKER-house-q-FRIam.mp3 Time: 27s Title: JAPAN-CHIPMAKER-house-q-FRIam Out-cue: the two countries] TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. ———————————– VERBATIM: The two countries are stepping up cooperation on expanding manufacturing and supply chains for critical materials. Japan’s Economy and Trade Minister said the government approved the Micron Technologies deal under a law related to economic security. The announcement follows U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit in Japan where she met with Japanese government and semiconductor officials to seek greater cooperation between the two countries. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
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‘Big impact’: UK economic chaos, pound plunge hit businesses (Fri, 30 Sep 2022)
( ) -q-19- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “protect pension funds.” British Prime Minister Liz Truss and her Treasury chief have met with the independent Office of Budget Responsibility amid efforts to ease concerns about unfunded tax cuts that have unleashed turmoil on financial markets. [CutID: <Cuts> UK-ECONOMY-house-q-FRIam.mp3 Time: 19s Title: UK-ECONOMY-house-q-FRIam Out-cue: protect pension funds] TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.The chairman of the House of Commons’ Treasury committee said the meeting may be an opportunity for the government to change course. —————————— VERBATIM: The meeting was significant because it was the government’s failure to publish the OBR’s analysis of its tax-cutting plans that worried investors. The analysis sent the pound to a record low against the dollar earlier this week. It also forced the Bank of England to intervene in the bond market to protect pension funds. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
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