Sebi eases buyback rules for fundraising amid coronavirus pandemic

To ease fundraising through securities markets, regulator Sebi on Thursday relaxed period of restriction to six months for raising further capital through buyback from the current one year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

This relaxation will be applicable till December 31, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a circular.

Currently, buyback regulation provides a restriction that the companies cannot raise further capital for a period of one year from the expiry of buyback period, except in discharge of their subsisting obligations.

To enable relatively quicker access to capital, Sebi has decided to temporarily relax the period of restriction provided in the buyback norms.

The current one-year period has been reduced to six months, it added.

The decision has been taken amid the developments related to the coronavirus pandemic and a number of suggestions received from the stakeholders.

Earlier this week, the regulator has eased rights issue rules by reducing minimum public holding requirement to Rs 100 crore from Rs 250 crore.

Besides, relaxation has been given with respect to minimum subscription as well as minimum threshold requirement for not filing draft document for such issues.